


A Second Chance

by NaughtyNeganJDM



Category: The Resident (2011)
Genre: Anxiety, Depression, F/M, Obsessive Behavior, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-18
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2018-10-07 09:48:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 87,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10357635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NaughtyNeganJDM/pseuds/NaughtyNeganJDM
Summary: I was requested to do a story where Max finds a girl that actually falls for him and helps him change his ways.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Y/N ='s Your Name -- This story goes with the timeline of The Resident for a bit, but eventually changes the course of the film.

A rush filled throughout Max’s body as he watched Juliet closely from the corner of his apartment building. Last night he had heard that Juliet was going to an art showing and he figured that might be his first chance to possibly make a good impression on her. He desperately wanted her to like him. He had never wanted someone so much in his life and there had to be a way that he could get her to like him. He knew that just on his own there was no way that a doctor could possibly find him appealing. He knew what a freak he was. He was constantly reminded and told by August how awful he was and he just had to find a way for her to like him, to feel comfortable with him.

Watching closely, he saw Juliet move from the building and he stayed back enough so he could still see her, but not have her spot him. This morning he had snuck into her apartment while she was bathing and went to where she had written the information down. He quickly got the address of the location before getting the hell out of there. He just wanted to make sure that he would show up at the right time she would be there.

After a moment or so, he moved away from the alley and looked to make sure that Juliet was still headed in the right direction. Taking in a deep breath, he turned on his heel to find himself a cab so Juliet wouldn’t realize that he was following her. He’d take a cab to the address, wait back and when she showed up he would go inside.

Back tracking, he kept his eyes on Juliet and went to turn his body to flag himself a cab. His movement was clumsy and he wasn’t paying attention as he felt his body collide with someone much smaller behind him. The sound of something hitting the pavement caused him to gasp as he stumbled to gain his composure again. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that he had run into a woman that had clearly been carrying a lot of artboards because they were all spread out on the ground. Reaching down, he scrambled to try and pull the art together in one spot as the woman slowly slid up into a sitting position and let out a wince.

“God, I am so sorry,” he muttered with a bit of nervousness in his tone. He knew that he wanted to get to the show, but he couldn’t just leave her there on the ground. “I wasn’t paying attention and I am so…”

“It’s okay…” she assured him looking up with a smile as he grabbed a hold of her hand and carefully pulled her up to her feet. “It’s New York. I’m used to running into people. It’s not the first time and it certainly won’t be the last. I’ve been knocked on my ass a few times…”

“I really hope that I didn’t ruin any of your things,” Max reached down to pick up a few of the artboards that had fallen to the ground and he could see some photographs that were spread out. Looking them over, his brow line wrinkled and a smile pressed in over his lips. “Wow, these are really good. Are these yours?”

“Yeah, but that’s just you being very nice,” the woman muttered brushing her hands off on her pants and she let out a long, exaggerated sigh. “I’d like to hope that they were nice, but at this point I’m not really even sure.”

“No, they are…they’re really good,” Max helped scoop together the rest of them and he looked over his shoulder to see that Juliet was gone. He cussed to himself knowing that he had to get to the show before Juliet did just so he knew when she got there, but he didn’t want to leave this girl here either after plowing her down. “I’m Max by the way.”

“Y/N,” she extended her hand out to his and he took it in his large palm. Squeezing her hand in his, he could see her smiling out at him and he felt something rush throughout his body. God, she was beautiful. Her skin was so soft and the sensation of her hand against his felt amazing. “Running away from someone?”

“What?” Max muttered nervously and she shook her head before sliding her photography back into the large black bag that they had originally fallen out of when he ran into her.

“You were in the alley and the way you ran out so fast, I just kind of assumed something scared you,” she suggested and he realized that she must have seen him come out when he was looking for Juliet. He found himself lost for words and the woman before him shook her head before pushing her long hair back over her shoulder. His silence clearly made her a bit uncomfortable, but she was attempting her best not to be rude. “I guess I should really get going.”

“I own the building,” he finally spoke up after being quiet for quite some time and she nodded. He was thinking of a lie, but he wasn’t quite coming up with one fast enough. Stuttering to find the words he knew that he had to leave, but something inside of him wanted to keep him there talking to her. “I’ve had a couple of broken windows lately and I thought I heard something in the alley, so I went to go check it out…uhm, do you live around here?”

“A couple of blocks that way,” she nodded toward the water and Max found himself wanting to talk more with this woman, but he desperately had to leave. “You look like you really need somewhere you have to be and I have to be somewhere too…so I should just get going. I hope you get everything situated with the broken windows and find out who is doing it.”

“You’re walking and carrying all of that stuff?” Max’s nose wrinkled when she looked down to see all that was in her arms. She nodded and he wasn’t satisfied with that answer. He whistled for a cab trying to get one for her hearing her in the background telling him that it was alright. “Really, you should get a cab. I’ll pay for it. It’s the least I can do for knocking you over onto the ground. I feel like a real…a real shit for that.”

“I’m okay Max,” she saw a cab pull up beside him and Max threw his hands up with a bright smile. He held the door open for her and she suddenly felt guilty enough that he did what he had. Deciding to take him up on the offer, she moved to the cab and carefully put her things in the back of the cab. “Thank you Max.”

“It’s the least I can do Y/N,” Max smiled brightly before pulling out his wallet and handing over some money to the driver. He muttered something to the driver before helping her into the car and closing the door for her. “Maybe we’ll see each other again soon.”

“Yeah, maybe,” she waved goodbye to him and as soon as the cab pulled away Max could feel every muscle in his body tightening. He wished that a simple meeting like that could cause his whole life to be normal, but he knew what it was his mind wanted and he had to get where he had to be. The woman was nice, but his mind was set and he just absolutely had to have Juliet.

\------  
  
“Thanks,” Max handed some money over the cab driver after he had seen Juliet walking into the building. He had the driver wait far back enough so that Juliet couldn’t see him when she got there. He was thankful that he was able to get there before she was. For a while he was wondering if he would have already been too late after the run in with the woman earlier.

Slowly getting out of the cab, he made sure that Juliet was officially in the building before moving toward the stairs. He didn’t know shit about art. Hell, he never really went out. He hated being around big groups of people, they always made him feel small. Maybe that was the works of August in his past always tells him what a freak he was. When he was around others, he always felt like people were judging him. That people were looking down on him and thinking the things that August thought of him. Hell, the things that he thought about himself.

Going to this art showing was a big deal for him. Leaving the building and going out into a group of people was a big deal for him. He didn’t think he had agoraphobia, but there was something about the outside world that scared him. He wasn’t very social and when he was in big groups of people, that was very evident.

A lot of people in his life let him down. A lot of people hurt him and it almost made him afraid of the world. He was hoping with coming here that if he was able to connect with Juliet -- she would be able to help save him. To help him break free of the world that he had become used to.

Taking in a long breath, he could feel his heart hammering in his chest and his body was slightly trembling. It was likely from the anxiety of having to approach people like this, but he had to prepare himself. If he wanted Juliet, he had to become someone that he wasn’t. Someone that others would like. Not a shut in that was a freak.

Stepping into the building, Max took a long look around the crowded room and took in a long shallow breath. Spotting Juliet in the corner made his heart flutter inside of his chest. She looked gorgeous, but she was with a friend. They seemed pretty heavy into their conversation which meant he had to do this right.

Stepping forward, he felt someone push into him with the crowd making him stumble and he knocked into someone again. Reaching out, he grabbed a hold of the arm and let out an uncomfortable sound when he saw Y/N before him again.

“Okay, now I’m just starting to think you have made it your goal today just to knock me on my ass,” Y/N teased him as he held her close. Realizing his grip was tight; he loosened it and sighed heavily before eyeing her over closely. Running into her twice? This was just getting…odd. “Max, right?”

“Yeah, I could be crazy, but I would assume that you were following me here,” Max suggested and he realized how crazy that sounded coming out of his mouth. Especially since he was following Juliet here and this would have never been a place that he would have come to in the first place. Seeing her eyes widen, he cracked a grin and could see her shrug. “I’m just saying, running into you twice…that’s a bit odd, isn’t it?”

“Oh, I could definitely be a stalker, but that would be a little bit hard when I just saw you walk through the door and I’ve been here for quite some time,” she pointed out with a wink and he suddenly felt kind of like an asshole for even making that comment. Most people would likely be turned off by that kind of comment, but she seemed amused with it. “I guess fate wants us to keep running into each other.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. Fate has never really liked me that much,” Max spoke almost in a whisper and he could see that his comment made her frown. She reached out to pat him on the shoulder before nodding toward the front of the crowded room.

“Would you like me to get you some wine?” she offered and Max quickly shook his head. He wasn’t here to browse. He was simply here for one thing and one thing alone. “Are you sure? You look like you could use a drink.”

“If I drank every time it felt like I could use one, I’d probably be an alcoholic,” he smirked and she smiled. Jesus, that smile. It was beautiful. Y/N definitely had the charm of Juliet and when she smiled it made him feel something that he hadn’t felt in quite some time. Plus, she was extremely nice to him and that was something that was very rare in his life. “Thank you though.”

“Oh absolutely,” she eyed him over for a long moment and he started feeling uncomfortable. She reached out to pat him on the shoulder and shook her head. “Gotta tell you Max, you don’t look like the stuffed shirt type to come in here and look around for art.”

“Stuffed shirt?” Max snickered uncomfortably at her bluntness. He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked down toward the ground. “How would you know that? What is it you are doing here?”

“Well…you know those photos?” she nodded toward the back wall where some of her photography was hanging. He let out an aggravated breath at himself when he realized how stupid his question must have been. When they were together he had seen her art work so he should have easily put two and two together. “Not that any of these people are going to buy any of my shit. I’m friends with the person that set this up and they wanted to do me a favor.”

“I’d buy your photography. Given I had the money on me,” Max muttered with a sigh, looking over his shoulder to still see Juliet talking with her friend. He looked back to Y/N and frowned. “If someone doesn’t buy your stuff tonight, I would be shocked.”

“Well that’s very nice of you Max, but not everyone is as nice as you are,” Max felt her grabbing a hold of his arm to squeeze it softly. This was all a bit forward for him, not many people were so eager to compliment him and the fact that she was showering him with compliments without even knowing him made him confused.

“I’m not really that nice,” Max pulled his arm away in a nervous motion and he could tell that she picked up on his nervousness with her touching him. She nodded and folder her arms out in front of her chest before looking up at him with her beautiful eyes. “I mean it’s nice of you to say that…”

“Something tells me you are someone who doesn’t hear compliments much in your life,” she blurted out and he could feel his jaw clenching. He looked her over and could feel his heart hammering in his chest, what was with this girl? Why was she so eager to believe he was such a good person? “Not many people in New York after they’ve knocked someone over on the street give a shit and even if they do, they don’t stop to help and pay for a cab for feeling bad about it.”

“I just…” he thought about what she said and gulped down. “I don’t know, you are just really nice and I’m just not used to it.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she bit into her bottom lip and he could see her smile widely after leaving the two of them in silence for a few moments. “You know, I owe you for getting me that cab. How about the two of us, we go out for some coffee one day?”

“Us? Go out for coffee?” he repeated her sentence and he gulped down uneasily. This was the first time that anyone seemed completely eager to want to be his friend or even wanted to go out with him. There was Juliet, everything he wanted and then there was this beautiful stranger that was being an absolute sweetheart to him. “Why would you want to do that? You just met me.”

“I get the hint that you need someone to talk to,” she moved around him and reached for a pad of paper that they had sitting at the front desk and started writing something down on it. “Plus, I just moved here. I need some friends and why not start with the first stranger who showed me some kindness when he didn’t have to?”

“I…have to be honest with you,” he looked down at the piece of she was handing him and he could see that her name and phone number were written on it. “I…I’m kind of interested in someone and I think I’m going to be dating them soon, so…”

“Max, that’s okay. I said a friend, remember?” she giggled and he felt his cheeks blushing over with her response. God, he was so embarrassed. Here he was thinking that she was flirting with him and wanting something more than a friendship and that’s clearly not where she was going with this. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see someone flagging her down to come see them. “I have to get going Max, but seriously…think about that whole coffee thing. I’m a good listener and I’m pretty good with advice too.”

“Yeah, I definitely will consider it,” he smiled feeling her reaching out to grab a hold of his hand to shake it a final time and he could see the small skip that she gave when she walked away. She was so upbeat when she talked and so friendly, yet so giddy. It was kind of amazing and different from what he was used to.

“Oh hey, Max…” he went to move toward Juliet and he could see Y/N moving back to him for a moment. His eyebrow perked up when she moved in closer to him, her hand squeezing over his shoulder as she tipped up on her toes to whisper in his ear. She was so ridiculously close to him that it made him take in a sharp breath. God, she smelled amazing. “I wouldn’t worry about the girl…with those dimples, you’ll be dating her in no time.”

An uncontrollable smile pressed in over his lips as she stepped back and gave him a wink. He watched her move through the crowd of people to go talk to her friend. He couldn’t quite explain what she just made him feel, but he felt warmth in his chest in a good way. No one had ever complimented him as much as she had today. Then again, he was with August most of the time, but having her around was a nice change and he sure hoped that she was right about Juliet.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max is upset with himself after turning away from Juliet's kiss and calls the reader to ask her to go for a walk with him to possibly get to talk about his feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y/N =s Your Name

Dropping back in his chair Max could feel his body trembling after everything that happened today. He almost had gotten everything that he had wanted with Juliet, everything that he had longed for, but when she went to kiss him he freaked out. He thought of the words that August would call him. The mockery that would be thrown at him and he just let all of that blur his judgement. That’s why he turned away from the kiss with Juliet. He damned himself immediately when it happened. He wanted to kiss her, he wanted to take her in his arms, but he couldn’t. He knew he was a monster and he didn’t know if he truly wanted to thrust that on her.

He knew that spying on her was wrong. He knew that doing what he was doing made him a terrible person. He just didn’t know what he could do with Juliet that would make her like him. From the first moment he met her, he wanted her. He fell for her from the first moment he had seen her and he desperately wanted her to be part of his life.

Feeling the rage in his body growing, Max launched the keys that were in his hand across the room and saw it knock over a few things that were on his dresser. Letting out an aggravated sound, he moved across the room and picked up the pants that he had worn to the art gala earlier. Seeing something drop out on the ground, he saw the number that Y/N had given him earlier and he let out a nervous breath.

Looking at the time, he knew that it was late. All that he had was himself and his thoughts and if Max was left alone to his thoughts he knew that would be a bad thing. Gulping down, he reached for the phone and traced his fingertips over it. Y/N seemed like a really great person and he wanted to believe that she was all the things that she promised she was, a good listener. That was something he could really use, but what if she freaked out when he unloaded and talked to her? What if she was disgusted by him if he talked to her?

Dialing her number, he put the receiver to his ear and as he heard the dial tone.  He felt a sinking sensation in his chest. He should just hang up. This was stupid. He didn’t need someone else in this world thinking he was a freak. He should have just left their meeting today be the last so that way there was one person in the world who thought that there was a chance he could be special.

“This was a dumb idea,” Max spoke up with a sigh and went to hang up the phone until he heard her answer on the other side. He heard the tired tone of her voice and he perked up. Shit…

“Hello?” Y/N yawned and Max brought the phone to his ear again hearing her repeat her words again. “Who is this?”

“Hi, this is…uh…this is Max from earlier,” he spoke up in a nervous breath and looked to the time again. It was late, but not ridiculously too late to make him look creepy. “Uhm, I know this is really weird and I realize that people don’t usually do things like this, but I was wondering if you would want to go for a walk or something? I have a lot on my mind and…I know you don’t really know me, but I guess…I just…you know what, never mind. I’m sorry for bothering you so late, this was a stupid…”

“Max?” she cut him off in the middle of his words and he could feel his heart hammering inside of his chest. He wasn’t used to having friends or talking with people. The only talking to other people that he did was those that he worked with on the apartment building. “I can go for a walk. That’s no problem. Can you give me about twenty minutes and I’ll meet you where we met this morning?”

“Really?” he breathed hearing her laugh on the other end of the line and he shook his head. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. It was so ridiculously hard for him to even talk to anyone in general. The fact that he called her like he did, that was pretty big for him. Not many people would be alright with someone stranger calling them in the middle of the night and asking them to go for a walk. “I mean…I’d understand if you didn’t want to.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to?” she questioned and he found himself at a loss. There was a list of things he could give her. He could probably list them forever, but he didn’t really know how to answer a question like that. “As long as you promise not to kill me while we are out, then I’m alright with it.”

“What?” Max let out a tight breath when he heard her laugh on the other line. “No. I wouldn’t…I wouldn’t do something like that.”

“Alright, then we are fine,” he could hear something rustling in the background of the phone and he looked around the room. “Just meet me where I said and we should be fine. I could use a walk anyways, so having a big guy to keep me safe sounds pretty nice.”

“Safe?” he repeated her words and he thought that over for a moment. Not once had someone referred to him as safe. He didn’t think anyone would ever feel ‘safe’ with him. “I’m just saying that I would understand if you didn’t want to go.”

“Do you want me to say no?” her voice was quite bubbly on the other end and he could feel his heart sinking.

“No, I guess…I want you to say yes,” he stammered before reaching for his keys from the dresser.

“I already said yes several times,” she pointed out and he could feel a breath catch in the back of his throat. “So I’ll just see you in a couple. Okay?”

“Alright, well…I guess I will meet you soon then. In twenty minutes,” Max confirmed their original idea.  

Hanging up the phone, he found himself dumbfounded at how easy it was to get her to say yes. That was just…odd. Caressing his fingertips over the phone, he found his body was completely tense and he didn’t know how to react to someone being so nice. It was different and hopefully she would still find him ‘safe’ after tonight. Either this was a really stupid idea for him to do…or maybe it was something that was actually worth giving a chance.

\-----  


“Why did you agree to come out here tonight?” Max looked over at Y/N as they walked down the less than crowded street. He could see her look up at him with her big eyes and he shrugged his shoulders. “I mean it; most people would be creeped out by a random person calling them.”

“I’m not most people Max,” she assured him with an uneven breath and she looked toward the coffee shop ahead. “How about we get some coffee, I’ll pay for it and then we can go to the park over there and sit. Just talk for a while by the water or something. That always calms me down.”

“Okay,” he saw her step into the coffee shop and he watched her order. She used the words calm down which alerted him to the fact that he clearly didn’t seem very calm. After she ordered and gave him his coffee, he followed her over toward the bench right off the water in the park across the street and when they sat down they were silent for a few moments. “Why are you so nice?”

“People need a reason to be nice?” she teased him and she could see that he was staring out at her as if he was trying to read why she was the way she was. Letting out a long breath, she shrugged her shoulders and slumped down on the bench. “You really don’t want me to get started on this whole thing; I can talk…a lot.”

“I’m okay with that,” Max insisted with a nervous smile knowing that he wanted to talk to someone and have someone to talk to, so if she started this whole thing, then maybe he would feel more comfortable. “I’m kind of shy so if you start talking, then maybe I will get into the whole opening up thing.”

“Well…growing up, I had a friend. It was high school and you know how life is really hard when you are in high school?” she questioned and Max nodded, his whole life was miserable, but he was just going to go with the conversation to see where she was going. “She was really depressed; her parents were really…abusive. Always called her names, made her feel small and she didn’t have many friends. I was one of the few friends that she had. One night when I was going out, I had gotten a call from her, but I didn’t take it because I was too busy with my other friends. It was stupid on my part because I knew that she had a shitty family. I should have just answered and let her come with us, you know? I just told my father to tell her I was already gone. Well that night, she ended up killing herself. She was having a hard night, didn’t have anyone to talk to and she was in the bathroom. She didn’t think she could put up with the pain of family and life anymore so she cut her wrists and killed herself. I really hated myself after that moment you know? Always thinking to myself that what if I would have answered that phone? What if I offered for her to come out with us? Would she have killed herself then? Would she have been okay the next day and the next until she could finally get away with college?”

“You realize that someone killing themselves like that is not your fault, right?” Max watched her closely as she spoke. He could tell with the way that her voice cracked that while telling the story that she was being honest. “I mean that’s their choice, it wouldn’t have been something you could have stopped…”

“You’d be surprised by what a simple friend could do for someone,” she informed him with a small nod and he gulped down uneasily. “So since then, it’s kind of been a learning process for me with people. I want to be there for people, no matter how much I know them or how little they care to know me. If I can be that one friend, that one person that can stop someone from killing themselves or hurting themselves…then I will be that friend. If I can be nice and just put a smile on someone’s face, then I am going to try. There is no reason not to be nice to someone. People should try it sometimes. Being nice really isn’t that hard. I know it’s easier to frown that it is to smile, but it helps sometimes just to smile for no reason. Did you know that if you smile, it releases endorphins that will actually make your body think that it’s happy?”

“I did not know that, no…” Max’s deep voice pressed in over her and she could see the crooked grin that pressed in over his lips and she shrugged. “So you’re nice to people, just because…you want to make people happy?”

“I do,” she nodded before taking a long sip of her coffee. She crossed her legs and looked up at him with a wide smile before shrugging. “I want to be someone who makes a difference and I’m not the kind of asshole artist who thinks that only my art will make a difference. I’m the kind of person that thinks my actions make a difference. The way I talk to people makes a difference.”

Max nodded and watched her closely. He took a sip of his coffee and actually was shocked with the woman that was before him. She was different than anyone he had ever met before and he wasn’t quite sure how to take her in.

“That’s why I gave you my number, you have sad eyes…” she spoke up in a whisper and when she said those words, the color from Max’s face drained. He lowered his head and she reached out to place her hand over his knee, squeezing it softly. “Trust me, you have a gorgeous smile, but I can see you are sad. I’ve seen that look before on many faces and I’ve seen it on my own. I wanted to be that one person that could help you.”

“Where have you been my whole life?” Max’s voice cracked and he realized that blurting that out wasn’t exactly something he should have done. He saw her brow line crease and she frowned. He could feel her squeezing over his knee harder. “Listen, I’m a freak. Okay? If I talk to you about things, if I tell you things, you are just going think awful things about me and I…”

“We all do fucked up things Max,” she whispered and he could feel her scooting in closer to him. “I will not judge you. I’m promising you that right now. Whatever comes from our friendship, even if it’s just us talking tonight--I am not going to judge you, do you understand?”

“Okay…” Max saw the way that her eyes watched him and he set his coffee down on the ground beside his feet. A heavy sigh escaped his lips and he knew that this was a long shot. He had never opened up to anyone before and if he had even attempted to, he knew that they all ran away from him or left him. Looking to her, he could tell that she genuinely wanted him to talk and it was something that he wasn’t used to, but he was going to give it a shot. “Like your friend, I had a very messed up family. When I was a young kid, my father was very angry. All the time. He would often scream and I actually can’t remember a time when he was calm. I don’t remember much, but when I was younger my dad was in one of his moods again and he scared my mother to the point of having her actually throw me in the closet because she was worried that he would hurt me. Which apparently people think saved my life because that day my father shot my mother three times before shooting himself in the head. I saw the whole thing from the crack in the door…”

“Jesus…” she gasped seeing the way that Max turned to look at her with a frown and she reached up to brush her hair out of her face. “I’m sorry to hear that Max. That’s a terrible thing for a child to witness.”

“You didn’t do it,” Max shook his head and could feel his body trembling. He never really opened up to anyone ever. Let alone a stranger, but the fact that he had this woman that he just met sitting here listening to him made him comfortable and it was a strange feeling. “My grandfather took me in after that, his name is August. We own the apartment building together. He suffers from pretty severe mental problems. He’s a hypochondriac and he worries about dying constantly, but he was my mother’s father. I think…growing up, he saw my father in me. He saw me like my father and just assumed that I was my father…”

She nodded and said nothing, just gave him her full attention.

“So for most of my life, I have been used to being called things. Freak. Monster. Nothing. Weak. I’ve heard it all. It made life really hard and anytime something good happened in my life, August would somehow ruin it. Girlfriends, work, school…I let him ruin it,” Max bit into his lip and clasped his fingers together as he leaned forward on the bench. “Thing is, I’ve fallen for this girl. She reminds me of everything perfect in this world and again…I’m fucking up everything. I’ve…grown to be the very thing that August always has told me I was. A monster. I don’t do things right, I don’t handle life the way that I should…and…”

“Just because you aren’t like everyone else doesn’t mean that you are a monster or a freak,” she reached out to place her hand over his and he could feel her clutching it softly. “Max, you can’t let other people tell you who you are or what you are going to be. You’re a grown man; you can break free from those things…”

“But he’s right. I’m a disgusting person,” Max’s bottom lip trembled and he could actually feel his eyes watering over. “I do bad things. I’ve done…awful things.”

“Okay,” she sighed pulled her hand away slowly and she leaned back in the bench and looked him over. “And this girl…?”

“I really like her. She’s everything I’ve ever wanted in someone and I desperately want to have something more with her,” Max spoke up honestly and he could tell that she was still listening. “I mean look at me, I’m not young anymore…”

“And you’re not old either,” she cut him off with a sigh as she watched him nervously reach up to rub at his pepper colored beard. “Listen, no matter how old we get…our parents…or grandparents in this manner sometimes becomes our inner voice. The way that they talk to us, that’s what becomes our conscience sometimes. Which is awful and it tears apart at us, but you have to give yourself a chance. The best thing we can honestly do when we have those kinds of people in our lives that try to knock us down is to prove them wrong. Become something better than what they projected onto us.”

“How old are you and why the hell aren’t you a therapist? This shit is too deep for a photographer,” Max blurted out with an uncomfortable laugh before reaching up to press a stray tear away from his eye. He was a bit embarrassed with himself considering he hated showing emotion, let alone to another human being. “I mean some crazy guy you just met calls you in the middle of the night to unload on you and…”

“A new friend, not some random crazy guy,” she corrected him with a heavy sigh, reaching out to press her hand over his shoulder. She caressed it in a soothing way and he shook his head. “Max, if you want this girl—if you really want to be with her, then you have to start being true to yourself. You have to let go of all the nasty shit that people have said to you and you have to make your own life. Start building your own life Max because I can tell you, you are capable of it.”

“I don’t think I’m capable of pulling myself out of this shit hole,” Max looked down toward the ground and he could feel her arm sliding over his shoulders and he found his body tensing up. He wasn’t used to people touching him. “What are you doing?”

“I’m giving you a hug because fuck…we all need a hug sometimes,” she insisted feeling him nervously turning to her as she wrapped her arms around him tightly. She pat the center of his firm back and caressed her palm over it soothingly. “You can break out of the hell you are in. You just have to want to save yourself and sometimes you need a hand to help pull you out.”

“You are weird…” he stated feeling her pull away from him and she gave him an odd expression before laughing. That likely sounded rude, but he didn’t mean it in a bad way. He stammered a bit when he realized it sounded rude, but he had never quite met someone like Y/N. “I don’t mean it in a bad way, it’s just I literally just met you…you should be terrified of me.”

“And yet…I’m not,” she reached up to playfully tap the side of his face and she could see his hazel eyes watching her closely. “That should tell you something about your character. You’re some stranger that I just met, asking me to go out in the middle of the night and I did. It’s one in the morning and I’m sitting at a random bench with you. Think about that Max.”

“I think that talks more about your character more than it does mine,” Max pointed out with a sigh as he looked her up and down. “I’m sure you have some kind of pepper spray on you.”

“I have that all the time, but not because of you,” she answered truthfully with a laugh and she shook her head. “It’s not exactly safe for a girl to be living alone in New York you know. I have a gay best friend that lives in a different area, but that’s still a subway ride away. I need some kind of extra protection.”

“Well at least you are still smart for carrying something,” Max looked out toward the water after grabbing his coffee again.

“So tell me about this girl,” Y/N suggested and he looked to her with a sigh. “I mean it; I still have a few hours to hang out. I have a meeting mid-day, but I’m a photographer. We don’t have tight schedules. So tell me about this girl and we can figure out how to approach things with her.”  


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max goes to the reader after Juliet turns him down because he knows that he will become more destructive on his own. Although, the more time he spends with her, the more he realizes that he is getting hooked.

Feeling his body trembling, Max looked up at the apartments where he had dropped off Y/N when they had gone out for their walk the other night. After they spent hours talking by the water, he walked her back home when the sun started coming up and that’s when he learned where she lived. He tried not to learn too much about where she lived in the building since he knew how bad his obsession could get when he started liking someone.

After having the moment with Juliet tonight where they came close to having sex, but she turned him down, he just found himself wanting to talk to Y/N. He tried giving himself some time alone, but the only thing that came from that was him hurting himself and him wanting to hurt himself more.

Letting out a long, nervous breath, he reached out to buzz her apartment after he looked over the names and found the correct last name. After a moment of waiting, he began to feel stupid. It was late, she was probably sleeping. This was so stupid. She didn’t care if he was upset that his date didn’t go well with Juliet. The fact that he came to her in the first place was wrong.

Walking away, he heard the sound of someone calling out his name and he looked up to see her hanging her upper half out the window staring down at him. She was about four floors up and he could see her waving him over.

“Max, how did I figure it was you? The ditcher,” Y/N laughed from where she was and she took a long look over him seeing him upset. It was odd how easily she could read what was going on just by looking at his face. “Fuck. I’ll be right down.”

“No, no. It’s stupid—I’ll just leave,” Max tried to deny her, but she had already closed the window and disappeared. Huffing heavily, he stood where he was and waited. Maybe he should just take off before she got down. That might be for the best, he didn’t really know how she would handle him being so upset about being turned down. “Fuck…”

“Oh, so now you are dropping f bombs,” he heard moving in behind him and he let out a nervous breath as he watched her pulling her jacket over her shoulders. Gulping down, he saw that she was wearing a night shirt that was a tank top that very much exposed a lot of her smooth skin to his sight under the jacket and he gulped down uneasily. “What’s going on Max? I could see the expression all the way up there.”

“It’s not really worth getting into,” he explained seeing the way that she looked him over and he shrugged his shoulders. “The fact that I came here and you were willing to come down here to talk to me is enough for me.”

“Oh come on…it’s really okay. I was just having a movie marathon,” she looked up toward her apartment window where she had still left everything on inside. “You aren’t bothering me at all. How about you come up? We can sit and talk together.”

“I’m not exactly sure that’s the best idea,” Max looked up knowing that he had his obsessive tendencies and if he got introduced to her life further, then he would definitely start getting hooked on her. He was hooked on her as it was and they were only friends. “We should probably just stay down here.”

“Max, I’ve got chocolate ice cream and the film Jaws is on. Come on, does that not sound tempting to you?” she reached out to grab a hold of his hands and he let out an uncomfortable breath. “Max, seriously. I bet you would love it…chocolate makes you feel better.”

“I would need a fuck ton of chocolate then,” Max finally spoke up as he felt her tugging him toward the entrance of her apartment building. Following her up the stairs, he felt his heart hammering when he looked up to see her firm bottom covered by the thin material of what he was assuming was her pajamas. This was a bad idea. This was a really bad idea. “You know, I should go…”

“No, you should come into my apartment, sit down and eat some damned ice cream,” she tugged him into her apartment and he took a look around at the loft. Clearing his throat uneasily, he saw that it was smaller than what his apartments were like, but it seemed cozy enough. Off to the far left was her kitchen and then her bedroom was in the middle area. The sitting area was off to the right and he let out a trembling breath. He was seeing her whole life before him in her apartment and he tried not to focus. When he was focused on those things, he would get obsessed. He knew that he would. “Go take a seat. I’ll get us the ice cream.”

“Okay…” Max pushed back his messy hair and moved over toward the leather couch. Dropping down, he looked out at the television and knew that he actually loved the film series Jaws. He just didn’t get much time to truly watch anything dealing with August and the work that needed to be done with the apartment building. “You have a nice place here.”

“Yeah, it’s alright. I mean for what I pay, it’s the best I can get,” she leaned back to stare at him with her bright smile. “I like that it’s by the water. I guess it’s something you get used to when you have a decent location. A small apartment.”

“There are apartments at my…” he began thinking about the building and he thought about what he had done behind the walls. Gulping down, he shook his head and shut up before he began. He liked this girl, he couldn’t do that to her. He couldn’t allow her to be introduced to the darkness of himself.

“What was that?” she pulled out two bowls and he shook his head slowly, knowing that he didn’t even want to bring that up again. “So what’s going on Max?”

“I had that date with Juliet we talked about,” Max saw the way that Y/N’s eyes widened in interest and he shook his head. It seemed like she really did care about his relationship with Juliet and what was going on in his life. It was something that he would never get used to. Someone who was excited talking to him and someone who genuinely cared about him. “It didn’t go well. Trust me, it didn’t.”

“Alright, so what happened?” she came over to the couch, handed him a bowl of chocolate ice cream and he looked down at it. He really didn’t want it, but he accepted the bowl anyway. “Was she uncomfortable with the set up or…?”

“It went well at first…” he looked her over and he knew that he didn’t tell her about the stalking that he did. Or the sneaking around that he’d done to Juliet because she wouldn’t think highly of him after that. He knew that. She was so nice because she saw him as a broken heart. He tried telling her all the time that he was a monster and a freak, but she wouldn’t hear of it. “We had a good dinner, we were getting along really well and we started…kissing.”

“Okay…and that’s bad why?” she smiled widely and she actually looked excited for him at the idea. “You were getting what you finally wanted. That’s not bad.”

“We just…we got really into it. Went to the bed and she…” he looked out at her wondering if this was really the best idea telling her about all of this. He was starting to feel a heavy attraction to Y/N as well as Juliet, so talking about all of this just felt wrong with her. She was his friend, but should he be really telling this to the other girl that he felt something for? “She turned me away. Told me that the only person she could picture herself being with was her ex and she couldn’t do it…”

“The ex that cheated on her?” she scowled at the words and saw the way that Max nodded and she shook her head. Y/N let out a disgusted noise and threw her hands up in the air at the very thought. “That’s stupid on her part then. Look at you. You’re fucking gorgeous. You have beautiful eyes, dimples for days and you are fucking hot with your…”

“Stop…” he pleaded feeling his body tensing at the words as she looked to him confused. His body got suddenly hot and he could feel his jaw tightening as he listened to her showering him with compliments. “You don’t think those things, so please…stop.”

“I do think those things. You are beautiful Max—if she doesn’t see that then maybe she doesn’t deserve you. Someone who wants to still stay with a boyfriend after they have cheated on you—they have to be crazy. I don’t know how someone would ever want to be with a cheater over someone like you,” she blurted out with a mouthful of ice cream and while some people may have been disgusted with that, Max was actually charmed by it. “You are fucking gorgeous. I’d love to have someone like you in love with me.”

“You wouldn’t and you don’t,” he tried convincing her with a heavy sigh. He wished he could tell her why and explain to her why he wasn’t good for her, but he knew that he couldn’t. She was the one person that thought good of him in this world and he couldn’t expose to her why he was terrible. “If you knew about me, what I was really like, you would tell her to run and you would do the same thing.”

“I don’t think I would,” she replied setting the bowl down on the table in front of them and she shook her head. “You are fucking hot. You have these really long eyelashes and…”

“You can’t talk to me like that Y/N. I’m…I fall hard and fast. I get…hooked when people compliment me and I just…I care too much about you so please…” he let out a whimper and she gulped down heavily, looking down at the ground as he spoke. Max felt uncomfortable with telling her all of this, but he wanted to be as honest as he could be. “You’re my friend and I don’t want you to be scared of me. I’m an obsessive person. I think obsessive is putting it lightly.”

“Isn’t everyone when they love something?” she surprised him with her comment and he gave her a confused expression. “I love photography. I’m obsessed with it. I’ve had actors and musicians that I crushed on growing up and I could have been considered obsessed…”

“No, I mean it. That obsessed is different,” his voice raised and he could see her eyes staring into his. There was a cracking in the tone of his voice as he spoke to her. “I’m telling you, I’m an obsessive person. When I start liking someone, I like them…too much.”

“Okay,” she nodded watching the way he bit into his bottom lip and she shrugged her shoulders. “If you don’t want me to compliment you that’s fine, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t true what I’m saying.”

“It isn’t,” Max insisted when he thought about all she was telling him. She was complimenting him on his personality and his appearance over and over again, but he couldn’t believe what she was saying. Never in his life had anyone told him how wonderful he was. No one ever gave him a compliment worth remembering. All he was used to was being showered with negative thoughts and those were the ones that were right. Not the ones that she was giving him. “I’m a mess…”

“Aren’t we all?” she retorted and his nose wrinkled when he looked to her again. She motioned him to wait and he could see her getting up and moving toward her bedroom area. She was gone for a moment before she came out with her camera and he shook his head when she raised it up in his direction. “Let me take a photo of you.”

“Oh no, I will break your camera,” Max set the bowl of ice cream down and held his hand up in front of his face, keeping it from her being able to get a good photo of him. “I’m serious; you don’t want to take photos of me.”

“Yes, I do…” she frowned as she moved forward to grab a hold of his hand, giving him a pleading look. “Please let me take a few photos of you. I want you to see what I see. I want to be able to share how gorgeous you are. There is so much more to you than you see.”

“Come on Y/N,” he huffed hearing her snapping a photo of him and he frowned. Again, he heard another snap of the camera and he sighed heavily. “I’m not model material.”

“I’m going to take a photo of you every time we are together and I’m going to make you happy. Just you see. We are going to work on you and you will get to see what I see,” she muttered and he felt his chest tightening as he looked up at her. She wanted to spend time with him to make him better. She wanted to still be around him after everything he told her and as he heard her snapping photos, he found himself a bit confused. “You said one photo.”

“Indulge me,” she pulled her camera away from her face with a smile before a frown pressed over her lips when she noticed something on him. Looking down to his arm, he saw the bite mark that he had left on his arm when he bit himself earlier after his meltdown. Staring up at her with his nervous eyes, he watched her set the camera down and move beside him on the couch. “What happened here?”

“Uh…” Max thought of a good response as he felt her sliding her thumb delicately over the mark and he shrugged his shoulders. Her eyes met his and he knew that he shouldn’t lie to her about what happened. “When I’m alone with my thoughts, I’m destructive Y/N. I bit myself because…I was…I didn’t know how else to get rid of the pain.”

“Max, that could get infected,” she frowned standing up from the couch and moving to the bathroom at the other end of the apartment. He could feel the slight hesitation in his body because he knew he shouldn’t be so completely and utterly honest with her. When she came back, she motioned him to follow her to the kitchen and he did as he was told. “Why do you want to hurt yourself just because someone is an idiot?”

“Because it’s not just one person,” Max answered truthfully and he could feel her grabbing a firm hold of his arm, pulling it toward her. She had a cotton ball covered with antibiotic ointment and he could feel her cleaning the mark on his arm for him. “I hate me…I deserve to be in pain.”

“No, you don’t…” she corrected him with a heavy sigh and she looked up to meet his sad glance. She was quiet and in most cases the look she was giving him was someone that was angry or upset with him. He said nothing as she covered the bite mark with the bandage and then threw the garbage away. She stepped forward and he flinched when he felt her reaching out for his face to cup it in her hands softly. While he was comfortable with her, he wasn’t used to this whole touchy feeling thing with people. “Max, you don’t deserve to be in pain. Do you understand me? So many people have abused you in your life; you do not have to abuse yourself. You don’t deserve that. Don’t torture yourself because of something that you can’t control.”

“Y/N…I’m unlovable. Even further, I’m unlikable,” Max’s voice cracked as he spoke further and he could see her sad eyes watching him closely. “I deserve whatever pain is brought my way. I do not deserve to be happy because I am a weak…”

“You are strong…” she cut him off and he could feel his eyes dampening over as he felt her grasp on his face tightening. She pressed up on her toes and pressed a soft kiss against the side of his rough face making him let out a heavy exhale. “You deserve so much better than what you have grown accustom to, just please give me a chance to show you that…”

“How?” he muttered with a whimper when she pulled back away from him. Her hands grasped a hold of his and he could feel his body trembling slightly when she caressed her fingertips over his. While he understood what she was doing, this wasn’t good. He was going to fall and fall fast.

“Spend more time with me, be with me more often,” she whispered and he felt her fingers hooking with his. His saddened eyes met hers and he could feel her grasp on his fingers tightening. “Stay with me tonight. I don’t want you to be alone. We can watch movies all night…and in the morning we can do something spontaneous. Something you’ve never done before. Please?”

“That’s not a good idea,” Max shook his head trying to pull away from her, but she kept a firm grip on his hands. “Y/N, I’m telling you…I’m obsessive. You don’t want to open your life up to me because I will fuck it up. I fuck up everything and…”

“Do I make you comfortable?” she questioned in a firm tone and he nodded his head slowly. “Do you trust me?”

“Of course I do, I wouldn’t be here otherwise,” Max retorted with a heavy sigh and he still felt nervous at the idea of this. “I’m telling…”

“I’m telling you that I trust you and I want to help you. I want us to help heal you, please give me that chance,” she begged of him and he found himself stunned over the fact that she was being so intense with this whole thing. “I care about you Max and I don’t want something bad to happen to you.”

“Okay…” he simply muttered feeling her reaching out to wrap her arms around him and he nervously hugged her back. Reaching his right hand up, he caressed his fingertips throughout her hair. This was always something he loved. Being held. It was something that he never had much growing up. There was little to no physical contact in his childhood and there was something utterly amazing about the warmth of another body against his. “I’ll stay.”

They continued talking throughout most of the night while there were a few films on in the background. Eventually she fell asleep on him and he had gotten comfortable on the couch with her on him. It scared him to be in this position, yet at the same time it excited him. He loved the feeling of her so close to him, lying on his chest. He loved the smell of her and everything about her seemed to charm him more and more.

Letting out a nervous breath, he carefully raised his right hand and ghosted his fingers over the side of her face yearning to touch her, but the last thing that he wanted right now was her waking up to that. She wanted to be his friend; she wanted to help save him and not have him obsessing over her. Lowering his fingertips, he carefully grazed his fingers over the soft flesh of her arm and he could hear her letting out a tight groan.

The sound almost knocked him completely out of the moment and he realized that he needed to stop. He just needed to close his eyes and try to sleep. Try to relax with her over him. If he let his mind linger any further, he knew that it would be bad and he didn’t want to let that happen between the two of them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max begins to get a little bit too attached to the reader, but thinks she might begin to feel the same way.

Hearing the sound of music filling his ears, Max shot up and looked around the unfamiliar room. He was groggy and confused as he watched Y/N running out of the bathroom and moving for her cell phone. Realizing that he had spent the night with her, he let out a tight groan and saw her fumbling with her cell phone to clearly get an alarm off.

“God, I am so sorry, I thought I turned that damn thing off. I was trying to give you some extra time to sleep. You looked so comfortable laying there that I didn’t want to wake you up,” Y/N muttered from the kitchen as Max groaned and pinched at the bridge of his nose. He had a headache likely due to him slamming his head multiple times against the wood plank when he was alone before coming to Y/N’s home last night. “Shit…I am sorry. You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he lifted his head to meet her expression as he brushed his hand through his messy hair. The last thing that he remembered was having her falling asleep over him and how he wanted to touch her. Somehow he was able to stifle his eagerness to do what he wanted so badly with her. The fact that he was able to fall asleep with her in his arms like that last night really shocked him as it was. At this point though, he knew if he spent more time with her, things were likely to get ugly. He was likely to switch back to his old ways and he wasn’t really sure that he was ready for that. He loved spending time with her, which meant he should really spend as little time as possible with her. That way they could keep their meetings…special. “I should probably get going.”

“No, don’t…” she held up her hand and quickly moved across the room. She skid in front of him and he leaned back in the couch at her quickness before she sat down on the table in front of him. Her hands pressed in over Max’s knees as he gulped down heavily at her touch. If only she knew how much her touch truly affected him. Then she would understand why he was uncomfortable at certain things. “I have a whole day planned for us. Fun stuff.”

“I haven’t showered,” Max looked down knowing that he was still in the clothes from the night before and he wasn’t exactly the cleanest. “My breath is probably terrible and…”

“You can shower here. I’ll take a quick one and then after that you can take one. I have some of my friend’s clothes from when he used to live here. They might be a little tight on you, but I think it will fit you fine. I’ve got an extra toothbrush around here too.”

“Are you sure? I really don’t want to bother you…” Max felt her smack his knee before getting up from the table she was sitting on. She went to go back to the bathroom before stopping again. “I mean it, are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Are you hungry?” she watched Max’s eyebrow perk up and she pointed toward the kitchen. “If you are hungry I can make you something before I get in the shower. Maybe some eggs or pancakes?”

“You don’t have to feed me, I’m fine,” he insisted and he could see a frown pressing in over her beautiful features. “Do you have cereal? I’m kind of a simple guy.”

“I can get it for you,” she moved across the kitchen and pulled open a cabinet. She grabbed a few boxes as Max got up from the couch and moved in behind her. When she struggled to grab a box, he moved in behind her and grabbed it for her. His chest pressed up against her back and he could hear her let out a tight breath. Realizing how close he truly was, he stepped back and watched her look back over her shoulder at him. “I have the bowls behind you and you can pick whatever cereal you want.”

“I can handle it,” he felt the corners of his lips turning into a smile and it kind of amused him how in the mornings she was so perky. She moved in closer to him, her hands reaching out to grab a hold of his arm to pull the bandage off slowly. A wince escaped his lips when he felt the adhesive from the bandage tugging at his skin. A frown pressed in over her lips and she shot him an apologetic look. She threw away the bandage and caressed her fingers over his skin in a soothing caress. “I’ll be fine.” 

“After you take a shower, I’m going to put something on it again. We’ll give it some air right now, but I just want to make sure we keep it clean,” she replied with a heavy sigh and he watched her closely as she touched his skin. The pain of the bite no longer affected him, but he wasn’t about to tell her differently. He liked her doting on him and worrying about him. In a way, he was kind of happy that he hurt himself yesterday because it led to her touching him so tenderly and caring. “We’ve got to take care of you. 

“Mhmm,” Max nodded slowly when she lowered his hand down and slowly released her grip on him. He looked down to his arm and let out a long sigh. “Would you like me to make you some coffee while you are in the shower?”

“You don’t have to do that. You are the one staying in my home. I should be making you things,” she saw Max’s dimples deepening as Max continued to laugh at her. Pointing to the cabinet behind Max she could see him nod and she moved back toward the bathroom. “Really, if you want to, go ahead, but if you don’t…”

“I got it,” Max watched her disappear into the bathroom and he could feel his smile fading. Looking around her empty apartment, he found the interest in him perking. He should really try to fight his normal ways, but he was alone with all of her stuff. Pinching at the bridge of his nose, he tried to focus on pouring the cereal into his bowl, but when he looked at the things around him he knew that he wanted to get to know her a bit better.

He shouldn’t be snooping. Especially on someone that he was starting to like so much. Someone who was the closest thing to someone liking him for him. Gulping down, he opened a few of the cabinets and looked at the drinks and food that she liked. He moved to her fridge looking at the photos on the front of it. Pulling a photo from underneath the magnet, he looked over the photo and he could tell that it was probably a high school graduation photo with her family. Looking over his shoulder, he put the photo back and moved into her bedroom area.

Pulling open the top drawer, Max could feel his heart hammering in his chest as he reached inside to grab the shirt that was on top. Looking it over, he smirked and raised it up toward his nose to smell it. Taking in the scent of the fresh clothing made him breathe in uneasily. Lowering the clothing, he found himself sickened with himself. He was snooping around this girl’s home. She was so desperate to help him, yet he was here doing exactly what it was that he didn’t want to be doing.

Going to put the shirt back, he noticed a photo in the top right corner and he reached for it seeing that it was her and a guy together, hugging each other tightly. Flipping it over, he read the name Christian on the back and let out a tight breath. He found himself irritated at the closeness of the guy that was with her, but put the photo back into the drawer. Closing it, he reached for the second drawer and pulled it open seeing that it was her underwear drawer and he quickly pushed that closed as soon as he realized what it was.

He wanted to put some kind of boundaries on things. He was snooping through this girl’s things, he had no shame, but he wanted to try and put some kind rules against what he was doing. He wasn’t going to stoop that low.

Moving over to grab her camera, he picked it up and turned it on looking through the photos that she had gotten of him last night and sighed heavily. These were the things that he already knew about her. Setting the camera back, he sat on the edge of her bed and dropped back on it. Reaching for one of her pillows, he pulled it close to his chest and squeezed it tightly. The bed smelled of her and he found himself longing to be laying in it with her. Hearing the sound of what he thought was something knocking over in the bathroom; he quickly stood up from the bed and moved over toward the kitchen again to fumble with the coffee. He waited to see if Y/N came out, but he still heard the shower running and just assumed she may have knocked something over in the shower. 

Gulping down uneasily, he set the coffee machine up and moved into her living area. Looking through the books and films that she had before noticing that she had left the bathroom door open a bit. Clearing his throat uneasily, he stepped forward and looked through the crack in the door seeing that she was in the shower behind the frosted glass door. The steam was filling the small bathroom and he stepped back feeling a lump growing in the back of his throat. He should have turned away and went back to the kitchen, but all he could do was stare.

Her form was made out very clearly through the glass as he licked his lips and felt his heart hammering inside of his chest. He watched as she lathered the soap over her body and a warmth pressed in over him. Once he had met Juliet, he never thought that he would feel for someone like he did Juliet, but as he watched Y/N showering he realized that he was just as interested in her as he was Juliet. Which he couldn’t tell if that was a bad or good thing.

The sound of her singing something in the shower made him take back a cautious step as he watched her like a hawk. He could feel a jolt filling his body and winced when he could feel his body hardening at the sight of her. He did everything wrong with his affections for Juliet and he should really be turning away Y/N right now. If he wanted something with this girl, he knew that he had to do things differently. At least to the best of his abilities. 

“Fuck,” he hissed when he felt an ache deep within himself. If he kept watching her that way, he was certain that she would see how excited he was at just sneaking and staring at her through the crack in the door. Hearing the sound of the shower turning off, he quickly back peddled and moved for the bowl of cereal that he had left on the counter. Grabbing it quickly, he stumbled across her apartment and dropped down on the couch. Reaching for one of the pillows, he pulled it in over his lap to hide his slightly tented pants from her sight and started to slowly eat the cereal.

After a while he watched her walk out of the bathroom, wet, but fully dressed. She was caressing a towel throughout her wet hair and he gulped down heavily. He could tell that he was sweating after getting a bit worked up from everything, but hopefully she wouldn’t notice.

“Sorry about that,” her eyes finally met his and she smiled. She gave him an odd expression and he cleared his throat uneasily. “You alright?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he retorted, shrugging his shoulders before taking another bite of his food. “The coffee should be ready for you.”

“Right…” she gave him a wink before moving across the apartment to gather a few things. She went into her bedroom area and pulled open the top drawer. Looking down uncomfortably, he hoped that he put everything back the way it was. It would be awful if she found out who he was this early. He didn’t want her to be terrified of him. “So like I said, I have some clothes for you if you want.”

Max watched her push through things and she didn’t seem affected by anything which he figured meant that he actually did put everything back pretty well. He watched her pull out a black button down and some jeans and he gulped down uneasily.

“I mean, I don’t know if the pants will fit you. He likes them kind of…tight. You guys are kind of the same height though, so you should be okay in that area,” she replied with a crease of her eyebrow and she stepped before Max handing him over the clothes. “There are a few other things that he has here. Some sweatpants and what not. As far as underwear goes, uhm…I don’t know if you are okay with not wearing…”

“I’ll be fine,” he smirked realizing that she was clearly uncomfortable with the idea of bringing up not wearing anything underneath what she gave him.

“They are completely clean by the way,” she insisted and he nodded slowly, reaching forward to set the bowl down on the table when he was done. “I don’t want you to think that you are using some dirty clothes.”

There was a silence between them as he watched her closely and she motioned him to follow her into the bathroom. He got up from the couch and lowered the clothes in front of his groin hoping to still hide himself from her.

“Here is a new toothbrush,” she pulled open the medicine cabinet and handed him a brand new toothbrush that was still in the box. She then handed him her toothpaste before motioning him to wait. She set her towel up on the hook behind her bathroom door before going into the cabinet under the sink and grabbing a towel for him. Handing it to him, she sighed heavily and shrugged. “The door doesn’t exactly close tightly sometimes because of the steam when the shower is on. So if it is cracked open when you get out, I swear I wasn’t trying to peep on you.”

Max let out a nervous breath when he realized that her saying that just made what he did seem all the more wrong. Part of him was hoping that she had left the door open in a voyeuristic manner, hoping that maybe he would notice, but of course she didn’t do that. That was him just hoping too much for something more than what was going on. Shaking off the thought, he gulped down and stared out at her with his beautiful hazel eyes. There was a silence between them as he stared out at her waiting for her to leave.

“Oh, shit. I’m sorry, you can just…” she quickly moved from the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Max set the clothes down on the counter before reaching for the back of his shirt. Pulling it from his body, he tossed it aside and then began to undo his pants. When he got them halfway down he could hear the door opening and he stumbled backwards trying to pull his pants back up over his white boxers. His back hit the wall hard when he slammed into the corner of the room and he saw her covering her face immediately. Clearly she didn’t think he would be getting undressed that fast and he heard her let out an aggravated groan. “Oh shit, I am so sorry. I’m just not…”

“It’s okay…” Max turned away from her and tried pulling his pants back up as he saw her hand was firmly placed over her eyes still. A laugh escaped his lips when he saw her cheeks blushing over with a bright red color. “You need something?”

“So not used to this whole living with people thing. It’s been a while,” she huffed heavily and he kept his hand firmly over the center of his pants trying to keep them up. “I was just going to grab the hairdryer while you were in here.”

“No problem,” he waited for her to move and grab what she wanted. When she was about to leave, he could see her stop when she looked to him again. It was the first time that she had seen him shirtless and his chest was rising and falling heavily. Looking down, he could see that she was staring at him and he laughed. While he was flattered, this all felt a bit odd. “Y/N?”

“Sorry, shit…” she quickly moved out of the bathroom and he laughed. Was she just checking him out? Or was that his mind playing with him? She could have just been uncomfortable and froze. That’s likely what happened. He had to convince himself of that.

Pulling his pants off, he folded them and then pulled off his boxers. Looking over his shoulder at the door, he made sure that it was still closed before turning on the shower. He wasn’t going to take a shower just yet though.

Carefully moving around in her bathroom, he opened the drawers and expected to find something hidden inside, but it was just something typical that you would find in a girl’s bathroom. Lotions, makeup and other common things. Even when he had snooped in Juliet’s bathroom he found condoms, but nothing like that was in Y/N’s bathroom.

Gulping down uneasily, he moved to the towel that she had left on the back of the door and pulled it down. A heavy breath escaped his throat as he brought the towel up against the side of his stubble covered cheek. Closing his eyes, he pictured that it was her that was pressed up against him. The towel smelled just like her and he pictured her caressing herself with the towel which caused a trembling breath to escape his lips. The sound of the hairdryer on the other side of the door made him snap back to what was happening as he put the towel back and moved into the shower.

Lowering his head under the stream of water, he let it soak his sore body before he reached for her shampoo and brought it up to his nose. Smelling it caused him to groan as he thought about the smell of her. She always smelled so good and now he was using her shower. She was in the other room, knew he was in her shower using her things and she was okay with it. All of these things were really too much to take in for someone like him.

After shampooing his hair, he looked over his shoulder to seek out the body wash and he saw her loofah sitting on the edge of the shower. Looking back toward the door beyond the shower door, he reached for the loofah and knew it was wrong to use it, but he couldn’t resist.

Lathering up the soap, he began to rub the material over his body and he thought about when he had seen her in shower earlier. Naked and doing the same to herself. He imagined that her naked skin was pressing up against his and he could feel his body hardening at the very thought. Keeping the loofah in his left hand, he lowered his right and wrapped his palm around his length. Squeezing at it softly, it didn’t take much to make himself completely solid as he groaned. Pressing his head up against the wall of the shower, he could feel the stream of water pouring in over him as he started to caress over his solid length.

His jaw clenched as he let out a muted groan. He imagined it was Y/N’s hand wrapped around his length, caressing him relentlessly. Breathing heavily, he started to pump over his distended flesh and he wanted to moan at the sensation, but he didn’t want to give away what he was doing inside of her shower. Opening his eyes, he looked back toward the door and made sure that the door was still closed and he bit back another moan.

Max lathered the soap over his body a bit more giving him a slicker grip as he pumped his hand over cock, squeezing tightly. Whimpering out, he thought about the way that Y/N would touch him, talk to him and it sent a rush throughout his whole body. Tipping his head back, he grunted as he thrust his hips into his grip and worked furiously to reach his orgasm. His stomach started to clench as he felt his body start to cum. Pressing his head against the wall of the shower, he shuddered and let out a small moan.

“Y/N,” he grunted her name uncontrollably as he came and he continued to caress himself until the very end of his release and when he was done he could hear a soft knocking on the door. Cussing to himself, he looked down and let out an unnerving breath. Stepping in under the stream, he tried to clean off the rest of his body before speaking up in a cracked tone. “Yeah?”

“Just making sure you are okay. It’s been a bit and I just…I thought I heard you say my name,” she muttered from the other side of the door and he cussed to himself. He quickly finished up in the shower and put things back where they were supposed to go before grabbing the towel she had given him. Wrapping it loosely around his body, he moved for the door and pulled it open. When she saw him standing before her soaking wet and in nothing, but a towel, she found herself lost for her words. Max cracked a smile and slicked his wet hair back. “Hi…”

“Hi…I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was taking so long…” Max looked down when she did to see that he was dripping everywhere and he stepped back in the bathroom. Looking up again, he could see that she was still looking down at his towel clad body and he cleared his throat uneasily. “I should really get dressed, I’m sorry, I just…”

“No, you are absolutely fine. I mean you can stay that way forever if you’d like,” she blurted out and instantly he could see her cheeks blushing over. “Shit, I didn’t mean it like that. I was just saying that…I’m going into the other room and I’ll wait for you.”

“Sounds good,” Max watched her quickly moving the other way out of the room and he smiled before moving back into the bathroom again. Closing the door, he hooked the towel around him tighter and reached for the toothbrush she had given him. 

Opening it up, he looked for a moment at her toothbrush in the holder and cleared his throat uneasily. Looking over his shoulder, he thought for a long moment before shaking his head and reaching for the toothpaste. After he was done brushing his teeth, he put the toothbrush in the holder next to hers and that was actually something that made him smile. The two of them sharing something together and something that was his being in her apartment. 

Unhooking the towel, he dried his body off and then reached for the jeans she had given him. Pulling them up his damp legs, he let out a small wince when he pulled them up his body. She wasn’t kidding; they were a bit…tight in certain areas. After a minute of moving around in them, Max reached for the shirt and pulled it in over his arms. Grabbing his dirty clothes, he moved out of the bathroom and saw her sitting on the arm of the couch, looking out at him with her big eyes. 

“Wow…you look good,” she blurted out seeing that he had left the black shirt unbuttoned as she slowly rose to her feet and let out a nervous laugh. “I mean the clothes. The clothes look good on you.” 

“Yeah, they are a little tight in certain areas,” he answered with a hesitant laugh and he felt her reaching for his laundry. 

She put it in a bag for him and set it in the corner of her apartment before turning to face him. She gave him a once over and smiled widely, “You aren’t kidding. Wow…uhm, would you like me to get some of those sweatpants?” 

“I think I’ll be fine,” he tugged at the waistband of the pants and watched her closely. Again he could see that she was staring down and he snapped his fingers at her. “Y/N, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you have been checking me out quite extensively this morning…” 

“Even if I was…” she stepped forward reaching for the edge of button down shirt she had given him to wear. A heavy breath escaped his lips at the sensation of her so close to him and her brazen movements. Normally he wouldn’t say anything to someone if he thought they were flirting with him, but he couldn’t resist with her. He could feel her hands tugging at the material and he tipped in closer to her as she looked up at him. “You told me last night I’m no longer allowed to compliment you. Remember? So you can think whatever you’d like to think Max.” 

Feeling her buttoning up the shirt for him, he cussed to himself when he heard her laugh and he wished he would have never said that to her yesterday. It felt like they had something good going on this morning and he wished that he could be as bold and brave as she was with him, but he wasn’t used to this whole thing. Flirting and being playful was kind of against everything that he had grown to be. 

“Right,” Max groaned seeing her moving for her coffee cup and he let out a heavy breath. He should just let her know that he was interested in some way. He just…he didn’t know how to do that. He thought she was interested too, but he wasn’t one hundred percent sure. Stepping across her apartment, he seemed to stun her when he reached for her coffee cup. He set it down and reached up with his large hands to press them in over the sides of her soft face. “Thank you…for everything. You have no idea how much of what you have done for me has helped me…” 

“It’s no problem Max,” she smiled brightly and he could feel her hands reaching up to press in over his. Her fingertips caressed over the back of his hand and he watched her closely. He gulped down uneasily and could feel her pressing in closer to him. “I told you I would be here for you, no matter what.” 

“I…” he searched her eyes for a sign that would tell him it was okay to kiss her. That she wanted something more than what they were having, but instead he just saw the same look he had seen the first time that he had met her. It was the woman that just wanted to be there for him, to help him in his life. Lowering his hands, he sighed heavily and nodded as he moved away from her slowly. “So what do you have planned today?” 

“Uhm…” she seemed shocked with his back tracking. Her eyes looked him over closely and he lowered his glance to the ground seemingly a bit uncomfortable. Reaching for her coffee, she sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “I want to get a bandage on that arm of yours before we go anywhere. Just to keep it covered and clean for today while we are out.” 

“Right…” Max felt her reaching for his arm to pull apart the button on the wrist of the shirt. She pushed up the material before moving for the supplies she had left out on the counter overnight. He watched her opening up the package before moving over to trace her fingertips over his inner arm again. 

“What are we going to do with you?” she sighed when she looked over the wound again. Her eyes met his before going back to putting the bandage over the bite mark. He watched her closely as she pulled the material to his wrist again. Letting out a shuddering breath, he felt her place a small kiss over the pulse point of his wrist and he could feel his heart begin to quicken in his chest. She nodded toward the door after buttoning the shirt up. He wanted to move or say something, but he didn’t know how to react to that. “The other night you told me there wasn’t much of New York that you had actually visited, so I figured we could go for a field trip of all my favorite places.” 

“Lead the way,” Max held his hand up to let her go first and he damned himself for not kissing her before this all happened. It was almost the perfect moment to do it and he wished he would have. He wished he would have been brave enough to actually kiss her, but he wasn’t and that alone made him feel down about today already.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max and the reader spend some time out in New York and he finally lets her know how he feels about her.

“I didn’t realize today was going to test my physical abilities,” Max dropped back on the bench beside Y/N when she had brought him to a pier that she had told him was her favorite area to relax in New York. First she took him to her favorite little coffee shop in an area somewhere in Chelsea and then took him for a walk on the High Line before bringing him to this very pier in West Village. “I never realized we were going to be walking all over New York today…”

“It’s good for you Max,” Y/N reached out to squeeze his shoulder before staring out at the water. The horizon line was beautiful and he could tell that’s what drew her to this place. With her eye for photography and how much she seemed to love the city, this was the perfect place for her to just sit around and relax. There was a nice water front and tons of buildings surrounding it. Plenty of people were around and all different kinds. Of course she would find something like this relaxing. While he didn’t mind the water, Max wasn’t exactly always the kind of person that wanted to be surrounded by others. Trapped behind the walls was what he grew up in, it’s what he was used to. There was a silence between them and instead of looking at the horizon line, he was staring at her. She was much more of a beautiful sight to him. Her excitement and her expression was more than enough to keep him interested. “There are so many places out here that I love though. It’s hard to show you everything in one day. I just wanted to get you out and doing things. So I’m taking you to the places that I enjoyed when I first came to New York. I can’t believe you haven’t seen most of what I’ve shown you yet.”

“To be fair, I really don’t get out much as it is,” Max sighed getting more comfortable in the seat that he was in and he could see her getting up from the bench reaching inside of her camera bag to pull her camera out. “I would have never known they made a park out of an old train railway if it wasn’t for you. So you’re introducing me to things that I would have never even known and I’ve lived in New York my whole life.”

“Well we just need to get you out here more often then,” she held her camera up and he let out another uncomfortable sound when she started taking more photos of him. Looking up at her with his hazel eyes he could hear her laugh when his look of displeasure clearly amused her. “Max, come on.”

“I’m a terrible subject for your photography. There are much better looking people on the pier out here,” Max stretched his arm back on the bench and could hear her camera snapping away.

“I have to disagree with you on that one there,” she lowered her camera for a moment and his eyebrow perked up. A smile pressed in over his lips at her telling him in her own way that he was the best looking person on the pier. An excited noise escaped her lips when she clearly got a photo of him smiling. “Perfect. I’m going to get more of those at some point.”

“Those are rare, you just got lucky,” Max watched someone approach Y/N and heard the stranger asking if she wanted a photo of the two of them together. When he watched Y/N hand her camera over, he gave her an odd expression. “What are you doing?”

“I figured the two of you wanted a photo together,” the stranger suggested and Max could feel Y/N reach out to grab a hold of his hand. Max felt her tugging on his arm and she wrapped both arms around his torso in a playful manner when he stood. Max nervously wrapped his arm around her shoulders and nodded before smirking for the photo. “I mean, that was a good one, but you didn’t really smile much man. Being with such a beautiful girl, I thought you’d smile more.”

“Oh, he’s just a little shy,” she playfully waved her hand up before tipping up on her toes to press a kiss over the side of his rough cheek.

The sensation caused a breath to catch in his throat and suddenly he no longer cared about the photos. When she pulled away and looked up at him, he smiled down at her and felt something he hadn’t in a long time. It was something he couldn’t quite explain. He assumed it was something close enough to happiness, but as she pulled away from him to move for her camera from the stranger, he could find himself a little bit confused. It felt like she knew he had feelings for her and maybe she was teasing him. It felt a little bit like that, but then again, he didn’t know if she even got the hint that he liked her so much. That was the confusing thing about his relationship with Y/N. He thought she might get it, but at the same time he didn’t know whether she did or not.

“Thank you,” she thanked the stranger as Max dropped back down on the bench and let out a long breath. She sat down next to him and he could see the photos on her camera and felt a knot in the pit of his stomach. He loved being with her, she made him happy, but at the same time this whole thing confused the hell out of him.

“Not sure I would have trusted a complete stranger with my expensive as hell camera,” Max pointed out as she nudged him playfully with her elbow. She put the camera back into her bag before giving him her attention again. “You are too nice.”

“Gotta have a little bit of faith in humanity when people are being nice, don’t we?” she suggested and the fact she believed that made Max completely flabbergasted. Humanity never cared much for him as it was, so he found himself caring less about the world around him because they never cared for him anyways. She was the only person that ever really gave him a chance in the first place. That’s what he liked about her so much. She was the first nice person that actually made him feel like he was worth a damn.

“If you like these places so much, then why don’t you live out this way?” Max changed the subject and heard her let out a loud laugh before his nose wrinkled. “What’s funny about that?”

“I’m a photographer Max and a pretty new one at that. I’d have to be making a lot more money than what I am right now to live out here,” she sighed heavily, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear before looking out at the water again. “Plus, I just wanted to get you a bit of a way away from your home. So I’ll share more of my favorites with you eventually. Right now I just wanted to get out of your comfort zone.”

“A lot of what I’ve done with you is out of my comfort zone,” Max reminded her and he could see the smirk that she gave him. It was a sweet one, but one where he didn’t know if she realized how true his statement really was. “I gotta tell you though sweetheart; you make one hell of a shitty New Yorker.”

“Hey,” she reached out to poke him in the ribs making a deep laugh escape his lips. “That’s not very nice.”

“When we were walking on the High Line and it started raining for that small amount of time, you saw New Yorkers. When rain comes out, they run and hide. Keep themselves from the rain. You took it on like a champ. Not caring that we were getting soaked,” Max thought back to their leisurely slow walk that they first took at the park. “People looked at us like we were crazy for being out in the rain…”

“Oh, pshh…a little rain can make magical moments and I enjoyed every second we had together up there,” she informed him and he could feel a tightness pressing in over the center of his chest. He enjoyed the time that he was spending with her, but he knew that he was getting too attached to her and didn’t know how to take her compliments like she was handing them out still. “There is still so much I want to do with you today, but I think I’m going to have to cut down on everything. What sounds better to you…cupcakes or gelato? I know two great places out here and I really think you’d like them.”

“I think I’m going to suggest sitting for a couple and then letting you choose which you would rather have. I’m a little winded and I’m enjoying where we are right now. It’s calming,” Max looked around at all the other people on the pier. There were families, couples, people working out and off in the distance he could see that there was a dance class setting up at the end of the dock.

Often at times he hated being out in public places like this. Watching people acting…normal. A lot of the time when he was alone around people like this, he would think about how different he was than everyone else. A lot of the time it would end with him jealous. Jealous that people could have normal lives. Lives where they didn’t have to worry, where they could go out and make friends easily. Where they could enjoy life and be with their lovers. A life where they could have fun. That was something he was never capable of having. Life was always hard. He couldn’t remember a time when it wasn’t hard. Growing up August was always extremely negative with him. When he wanted to join sports or groups with other kids, August would always mock him and make him feel stupid for wanting to be something more. Eventually life just became what he was used to, being alone stuck in the apartment building. August always kept him secluded from the world after his parents’ death and there was nothing Max could do to change it. No matter how hard he tried, he was too much of a freak. So it made him a little sour being out with people like this. What did they do to deserve a normal happy life and what did he do to have to be punished like he was his entire life? Sure, he wasn’t a good person now and Max knew that, but as a kid, he wasn’t like he was now and didn’t know why he had to punished.

“You alright?” Y/N’s hand pressed in over his and he could feel her fingertips wrapping around his. She squeezed them softly before frowning. “I think I lost you there for a second.”

“Yeah…it’s just,” Max looked at her for a long moment and he could see that her beautiful eyes were watching him closely. He never knew if he should tell her the truth about what he was thinking or lie. Would she find him more pathetic with hearing what his thoughts were? He always thought secrets were better off being secrets, but for some reason he was always blurting out things and being open with Y/N. It was something he couldn’t quite understand with himself. “I don’t know, I look at these people coming here to play catch with their kids or take dance classes…and I think I could never do that. I’ll never have that chance. I’m so much of a freak that…”

“Stop saying that,” she cut him off mid-sentence and he frowned. A heavy breath escaped his lips as she squeezed her fingers around his tighter. “The only thing that keeps you from coming out and doing something with other people is you Max. In the past, it’s clear that your grandfather abused you...”

“I don’t know if would go that far,” he huffed and watched her frown. He bit down on his bottom lip and shrugged. “I guess you’re right.”

“I know I am, but you can’t let the abuse carry over now. You are more than what he made you believe you were,” Y/N assured him with a stern tone and he gripped harder onto her fingers knowing he should get over himself, but when he was sad, he loved the feeling of her touching him to comfort him.

“I don’t like other people, that’s my problem,” Max informed her with an honest breath. “I liked Juliet…at least I thought I did…and I like you. Other than that, I don’t think much about the rest of the world because the rest of the world never really thought much about me.”

“That’s because the rest of the world hasn’t gotten to meet you Max. Obviously, there are assholes in the world. Lots of them, but not everyone is like that. You are a stunning man and I think if people got the chance to know you, you’d be surprised with how much people would want to be around you,” Max heard the sound of music playing alerting him to the fact that a class had started. “Here, you want to be different? Let’s go to the class. It’s free and they come out here every Wednesday and Friday to teach couples. I’ve been here and photographed them several times. They are super nice and I want to give it a try. I always have.”

“Oh no. No. That’s not going to work,” Max watched her throw her camera bag over her shoulder and get up. She grabbed a hold of his hands trying to pull him up with her. “Y/N, I have two left feet and I’m already…I swear, I’m not a dancer.”

“Neither am I, but I want to do this with you. Please?” she flashed him a big smile and he could feel something turning in the pit of his stomach. The typical him wanted to stay firmly planted where he was, but there was a part of him that didn’t want to let her down. Sighing heavily, he stood up and heard her let out an excited noise when he followed her toward the class. “Yay.”

Max followed her toward the end of the pier and watched her talk with one of the instructors and it seemed like she had already gotten to know these people quite well. Did she make friends with everyone that she met? Maybe that didn’t make him as special as he thought with her…

Y/N put her camera bag aside and moved for him as they took a spot near the back of the students. Max cussed to himself hating that he even did this. He was going to make a fool of himself and he just knew it. The instructors were just talking and he was avoiding what they were saying. Mostly because he found himself uncomfortable with the idea of what others would think of him if he were to flub up. It was just a slow dance that they would be doing, but he still wasn’t comfortable with that idea.

“Hey…” Y/N spoke reaching for his hands as he turned to face her when they were instructed to do so. She laced her fingers with his and he could feel his body tensing up when he heard the music start. Her other hand slid in over the small of his back and he let out a trembling exhale. “Just relax.”

“I’m going to fuck it up Y/N,” Max muttered under his breath, but she shook her head and hushed him. “I don’t do well in public with things.”

“No one is watching us,” she tried to assure him with a comforting tone as she urged one of his arms around her waist and he stared intensely into her gorgeous eyes. It was the only time he could somewhat find comfort in things. “We’re just going to go along with the class. The only person that cares about what you are doing is me. I care that you are spending time with me and doing this…”

Nodding, Max followed the motions of dancing with her feeling a bit uncomfortable as she led him through the motions. When he noticed others getting help from the instructors, he felt less tense. Still, he could feel himself stumbling a bit as he danced with her, but followed her movements as well as he could.

“See…people are learning. It’s not supposed to be a class for someone who is an expert,” she informed him with a proud smile and shook her head when Max bit into his lip. A heavy exhale escaped his lips when he felt her resting her head against the center of his chest. Lowering his head a bit, he rested his chin on the top of her head and could feel his body tensing. Having her in his arms like this was something he longed for his whole life. Someone who just wanted to be close like this was amazing and it felt so good to have her be this close to him.

“You and your boyfriend seem to be enjoying this,” one of the instructors made Y/N lift her head up and look back at them and the instructor flashed them a bright smile. “I always enjoy seeing when a couple enjoys each other while still trying to learn…”

“I’m enjoying it at least,” she muttered and Max noticed that she didn’t correct the instructor. They continued to finish the class before they were off onto their next destination. Max hadn’t said much. The idea of someone thinking he was her boyfriend actually made him excited. The fact she didn’t correct them made him feel so much more than he probably should have.

They had ended up getting some gelato before heading out to what she had called her favorite place. The sun was setting and he hadn’t realized how fast time went by with her until that moment when he realized how late it was already. Taking a seat with her, Max stayed quiet, but never took his eyes off of her.

“I love Washington Square Park. It always feels like I’m walking onto the set of a film when I’m here. Especially at night,” she informed him with a mouthful of her chocolate gelato and he smirked. God, he found her so charming with the way that she was. She was so expressive about everything and he just loved hearing her talk about the things that she loved. “And I’m here with you, which makes things better.”

“Right…” Max bit into his bottom lip and felt a bit disappointed. He thought about how important the little things that she said to him were. The things that meant so much to him were things that clearly she was just used to doing. She was friendly and nice with everyone, but with him, he was hoping it was different. It just really felt like all she wanted from him was a friendship and he had to get used to that. “I’d love to spend more time with you, you know that?”

“Who said the night was over yet Max? I realize I’m boring going to places that aren’t all that exciting, but I’m not ready to leave you yet,” she informed him with another big smile before the sound of music playing again caught his attention. He could see off in the distance that some younger kids were dancing and putting on a show for the rest of the people at the park. Looking to her, he could tell that she was completely amazed with what she was watching, but while she was amazed with them, he was amazed with her. If she caught him staring at her like this, it was likely that she would have found him uncomfortable to be around, but he couldn’t help himself. “Did you want to try some of my gelato? It’s really good.”

“No, that’s okay…” Max watched her holding her spoon up for him and he thought about it for a long moment. She pushed it up closer to his lips and he realized she wasn’t going to take no for an answer as she pushed the spoon between his lips. Closing his eyes tightly, she had no idea what she just did to him as he sucked off the remainder of what was on the spoon before she pulled it away from his lips. The fact that she just shared her spoon with him made a chill press in over his body. It was something that normal people would be okay with doing, but him... “Shit…”

“What’s wrong?” she breathed looking up at him and he leaned forward to pinch the bridge of his nose. Max held his hand up and shook his head alerting her that he was fine, but he could feel his body trembling. “I want to show you one more thing…”

“Oh great, more walking,” he teased her trying to get over himself as she got up and tossed her garbage away before clinging to her camera bag again. He threw away what he had before following her to an area of the park in the corner where it wasn’t so crowded. Following her closely, he could see her pulling out her camera and smirked when he realized that she was in awe of a field of fireflies before them. “Fireflies?”

“It’s magical, right? In a big city like this and then there they are,” she smiled brightly and he watched her closely as she brought her camera up to her face to get a photo. A smile broke in over the corners of his lips at her enthusiasm. If she liked it and it was special to her, then he liked it. This whole day being with her was the most enjoyable day he had in a long time and he found himself in awe of this woman. They had only just met, but it was the most comfortable he had been with anyone in a long time. Stepping forward, he grabbed a hold of her wrist and could see her pulling away from her camera and looking up at him. “Max?”

“I know this is fast…I know that you probably don’t feel the same, but spending time with you has done a lot for me. Even if it doesn’t last…” Max watched her lower her camera to give him her full attention and he gulped down heavily. “You are so special…I don’t think I have ever met a person like you in my life and I’m not sure I ever will again.”

“Max, what’s wrong?” she laughed seemingly a bit amused when he reached up to cup her face in his large hands. He caressed over her soft skin and tried taking in the moment, ignoring the rest of the world around them as he focused solely on her.

His rough fingertips caressed over her soft features before he boldly stepped forward. He never was the first person to kiss someone. He always let the other person do it first in a relationship because otherwise he would be worried that he would be turned down, but he couldn’t find it in himself to stop his motions. His thumb caressed over her bottom lip for a moment and he could see her looking up at him with her bright eyes.

“Max…” she started only to be silenced by the motion of Max tipping in quickly to press his lips in over hers. His lips lingered over hers for a moment before her free hand that wasn’t holding the camera reached up to press in over the center of his chest. When he pulled away, he kept his forehead pressed against hers, his breathing was heavy and he was trembling. He could hear that her breathing had increased as well and he didn’t know whether that was a good or bad thing. “Wow…”

“Wow?” Max moved back far enough to try and read her expression. The sensation of her smooth lips pressed against his still lingered and he knew that it meant way more to him than it should have. Realizing what he had just done and how she was still quiet, he stepped back and cussed to himself. “Shit, I’m sorry. That was wrong. That was stupid. I shouldn’t have done that.”

Walking off in the other direction he started cussing to himself and he moved over toward the fountain in the center of the park. Shoving his hands in his pockets he could hear the sound of a rumble of thunder before it started pouring all around him. The people in the park quickly fled from where they were and he could feel an ache in his chest. He just fucked everything up and he knew it.

Feeling the sensation of someone pulling on his arm, he turned to see that Y/N was standing before him in the pouring rain and threw his hands up in the air, “I’m sorry. I should have never done that. I totally just complicated things and…”

“You need to stop worrying so much,” she dropped her bag beside her carefully before moving forward boldly to wrap her arms around his shoulders to pull him down to her. Her lips meshed in over his and his arms instinctively wrapped around her waist, pulling her up to him tightly. Kissing her over and over again, he could feel her fingertips tugging through his wet hair and he breathed heavily when they finally parted. His right hand clutched at her back and caressed up slowly while his left hand held tightly onto her hips to keep her close. “It was a good wow Max…”

“A good wow?” Max repeated her words with a smile and he carefully set her back down on the ground, feeling her fingertips caressing over his jawline. She seemed to be playing with the stubble over his face as he smiled.

“You should have kissed me in the apartment this morning Max…today might have played out much differently if you had,” she suggested and he could feel his body clenching at the idea and she smiled brightly. “I was wondering if I was starting to read you wrong…”

“I thought you might not be okay with that,” Max raised his right hand up to press her wet hair out of her eyes, his dimples showing clearly with his wide smile and she let out a small laugh. “I thought maybe it was one sided.”

“Does this feel one sided?” she reached up to tug at his neck to pull him down into another kiss. His hands reached up to cup her face tightly when he felt her tongue flick out over his and a groan escaped his lips. “As you said, I have been flirting with you all day…”

“Mmm…I’m still waiting to wake up on your couch and realize I’m having a dream,” Max growled against her lips, his deep voice causing a chill to run down her spine as they kissed in the rain.  She tugged softly on his wet hair and could feel Max desperately clinging to her sides as they kissed.

“You are amazing,” she whispered tipping up on her toes again to kiss him again, softly nibbling at his bottom lip before pulling away. His eyes were heavy and his heart was pounding in his chest. The fact that she came after him and kissed him must have meant that she was feeling the same way for him too. Hell, who was he kidding? She just told him she felt the same. Her hand reached out to his and he could feel their fingers clasping together. “Maybe we should head back toward home…”

“I hope you have one hell of a camera case there Y/N with all of this rain,” he whispered with a laugh and he could feel her tipping up to press a quick kiss over his lips again. A groan escaped his lips when he felt her nip at his bottom lip again before pulling away.

“I do, but even if it wasn’t,” she squeezed his hands in hers before shrugging her shoulders. “But for that kiss…it was worth it.”

“A kiss from me is more important than your camera? The most important object in your life?” Max whispered seeing her smile before shrugging her shoulders. A heavy exhale escaped his lips when he felt her hand tugging softly on his to get him to start moving again. Maybe he was reading too much into things, but that must have meant she liked him more than he could ever begin to imagine.

They walked back in the rain toward his apartment building and considering it was raining along with having to take the trains, it was quite a walk, but he didn’t care. With her hand holding his and the thought of their kisses on his mind, he felt like he was on top of the world with her. They didn’t say much, but she was smiling and he found himself doing the same.

She agreed that they would stop at his apartment building and end the night there. It felt weird not walking her home, but as they stood in front of the building after the rain had just died down, he found himself not wanting the night to end.

“I should come get my clothes from your apartment, I feel like an asshole not walking you home,” Max informed her with a heavy sigh, pressing her wet hair away from her eyes. A frown pulled in over the corners of his lips, when he felt her hand pressing in over the center of his chest. Her fingers caressed over the center of his chest and he clung to her tighter. “I don’t want this day to end…”

“If I keep your clothes, then you have a reason to come back,” she pointed out with a bright smile and squeezed her fingers around his tightly. Her hand caressed up his chest toward his shoulders and she took notice of his smile and his large dimples that followed. “How could you possibly think that I couldn’t be interested in you with those big ass dimples? Oh my God, I die pretty much every time you smile Max. You haven’t made it exactly easy for me not to be interested in you.”

“You shouldn’t say those things,” Max whispered, snaking his arm around her waist and pulled her close. He could feel her hands sliding up his arms and he bit into his bottom lip before a wide smile pressed in over his lips. “I told you…”

“You get obsessed, I get it,” she hushed him, with a shake of her head and she could see the serious expression that pressed in over Max’s features. She tipped up, pressed her hand against the side of his rough face and shook her head. “I’m okay with that.”

“There is something…” Max went to speak only to feel her hand pressing in over the center of his lips to silence him. He wanted to tell her what kind of man he was. He wanted to tell her what he did, what he did to Juliet, but when she silenced him, he realized that wasn’t going to happen.

“Tonight was amazing Max and I do expect to be seeing you again soon,” Y/N informed him with a bright smile and shrugged her shoulders.

“Good,” Max winked down at her before feeling her tip up to press another quick kiss over his lips before starting to walk away. Max stood in front of his building and watched her pull her camera bag over her shoulder before he smiled again. When she disappeared around the corner, he couldn’t actually believe his luck. He thought he had found the love of his life in Juliet, but with her hurting him like she did, he may have actually found something better in Y/N.

Walking back into the building, he pulled his keys from the pants that Y/N had given him earlier before hearing the sound of the elevator. Looking up, he saw Juliet coming out of the elevator and he quickly shifted aside to hide himself behind one of the pillars at the front of his building. Watching her closely, Max could feel his breath catch in the back of his throat.

For the first time in his life Max had someone that seemed to finally accept him for who he was and wanted him just as much as he wanted her, but as soon as he saw Juliet again something changed inside of him. Letting out a tight breath, he watched her leave the building and he clutched his keys at his side. Still, he could tell that inside of himself he was obsessed with her and he damned himself for it. For some reason he was head over heels for both women and he didn’t know what the hell he was going to do with himself. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max has a bad morning and has his feelings for Juliet come back to haunt him.

Pacing back and forth in his room, Max could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He looked to the time and let out a stressed sound as he thought about the last few days. There was part of him that wanted to call Y/N, but there was another part of him that wanted to go back to his old ways knowing that this was the time that Juliet typically got up and ready.  
  
Last night when he came home and saw Juliet leaving, Max found himself still heavily charmed with her. He knew that it was wrong for him and that things went very wrong with her as it was, but he couldn’t help finding himself still absolutely enamored with her.  
  
Maybe it was the interaction he had with August earlier in the morning, but Max was feeling really down on himself today. When he had tried to give August his medicine, August verbally attacked him. August called him names and called him a weak man. It was almost like his grandfather knew when life was at the hardest and knew when to push him to his breaking point. Max was on the edge and hurt. It was two things that he never really handled well. He knew that Y/N told him that the words from others should never hurt him, but he was too upset to even try to think past what his grandfather said. If your own family didn’t love you, then who the hell else would? That was his thoughts at least. August was his blood and he was supposed to love him, but he didn’t and deep down that tore Max apart.  
  
It was a bad habit, but when Max was upset he often thought about things that would get his mind off his life. His past and his present. The one that seemed to keep toying in his mind was both Juliet and Y/N. The only thing was, Juliet was closer at the time and that was the thing he couldn’t seem to get his mind off of. Maybe there was enough time in the day to focus on both the women in his life. Juliet was so close and maybe afterward he would get to maybe get the chance to call Y/N to talk about things.  
  
Quickly moving through the building, Max snuck into the maintenance area behind the walls. It had become his safe spot. It had become the place in his life that he had grown accustomed to and where he felt the most comfortable. He knew that it was wrong to spy on people, but it was the one way he felt accepted into someone’s life without having to be around them. He always had social issues and by being able to spy on others, it felt like he was taking part in their lives, even when he really wasn’t and that seemed to comfort him.  
  
Moving to the area closest to Juliet’s apartment, he moved carefully because he knew that she would be up and about. The slightest sound could set someone off and he knew how capable it was behind the walls to have someone hear him. Pushing things aside quietly, he moved as careful as possible and tried to look into her apartment. It took him several tries until he finally saw her in her bedroom. Gulping down, he peered into the hole trying to see her move clearly. She was standing near her dresser in just her bra and he could feel a lump growing at the bottom of his throat. He couldn’t explain it, but there was something about her that still drove him crazy and Max couldn’t quite put his finger on it. When she pulled out a shirt and pulled it down her body, he could see her reaching for her things and he moved to the next part of her apartment where he could watch her.  
  
When he saw her grabbing her things and walking toward her door to leave, he scrambled to his feet and made his way out from behind the walls. Quickly moving through his apartment, he made sure that August was still sleeping before moving out after Juliet. He was thankful that when he made it down the stairs that Juliet was just getting out of the elevator. Waiting behind, he made sure that she didn’t spot him before he followed her down the street. Always making sure to keep far enough of space between the two of them so she didn’t realize that he was following her. By now Max had already figured out her morning routines and knew that she would be headed to her favorite local coffee shop. It was one that he had grown accustomed to going. Y/N had taken him there the other night and he knew that Juliet made her stop there every morning.  
  
Following her closely, Max watched Juliet as she ordered her drink and he cautiously moved into the shop with her. He didn’t know how to approach her. It had been a few days since their last encounter and they hadn’t spoken since it happened. It probably wasn’t a good thing to almost sleep with someone and then just up and disappear. Then again, she never attempted to contact him either. There were so many things he wanted to say to her, but how would he even begin to approach her?  
  
He didn’t want Juliet knowing that he had been watching her and following her. Then again, if he acted just as surprised as she did to see him, then maybe it would be alright. Hell, they lived in the same place, it would make sense that they both went to the same coffee shop. Stepping forward, he could see Juliet’s dark eyes meet his and she seemed nervous at first before offering up a smile.  
  
“Hey,” she spoke out and Max could feel his heart flutter. He knew that he should have let his emotions for her go, but as she smiled out at him, he couldn’t help feeling the way he did. There was always something so charming about her nervousness. It was like she was almost as awkward as he was with being social. She was sweet, smart and just…very nervous and that appealed to him. At times he thought that maybe she was more like him than he even knew. Watching her like he did made him realize that they were more alike than he could have ever imagined. He knew that he should have let things go with her, but there was something so deeply that attracted him to her. Maybe it was the fact that she was a doctor that helped people. She took care of those that needed it and Max wanted that so deeply. Someone to take care of him when he was down and hurt. There was just something about Juliet that he wanted to capture in his life. Have her be with him.  
  
“Hey,” he repeated tipping in to press a soft kiss over the side of her face. He wanted to say so much to her, say things that he knew would change things between the two of them, but he was worried that if he was honest with her about how he felt for her, that he would scare her. “Uhm, I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”  
  
“Yeah,” she cut him off and he could feel his cheeks blushing over when she spoke. “Look I’m sorry it suddenly felt weird. It had nothing to do with you, I just…I need more time.”  
  
“It’s okay, you know that tells me that you take being with someone seriously and I like that,” he smiled brightly when he heard the words she said. She needed more time. She didn’t say that she didn’t want him at all. It excited him more than she could ever imagine, but panic started to set in. When she said nothing more after his comment, he pushed his hands into his pockets and began to stammer. Maybe she didn’t mean it the way that he took it. Then things started to twist in his mind. If she wanted to be with him, she would have just come out and said it right? “But I was thinking about it and maybe we shouldn’t have done that. You know, uhm, being that we live in the same building and all.”  
  
“Really?” she seemed shocked and he could tell that his words brought relief. Of course he didn’t mean it. He was just telling her what he thought she wanted to hear after her silence. Maybe he was testing the waters to see if she actually still wanted to attempt things with him, but when excitement pressed in over her features he could feel himself starting to ramble again. He was disappointed and sad. What he felt for Juliet seemed one sided and the more that she spoke it felt like she thought the things that went on were a mistake.  
  
“No offense, I just needed company I guess,” Max replied and he truly found that to be the understatement of the year. After being alone for so long, he just wanted to someone to want him and be there for him. Juliet was the first person that sparked his interest in a long time and he just wished that she could see him the way that he saw her. He saw someone amazing. Someone that he could spend his life with and change for. He just wished that she would have given him that shot to be the person he knew that he could have been for her.  
  
“I’m so glad you feel the same way,” her words came out like bricks when he realized that she thought what happened between them was a mistake. Gulping down, he bit into his bottom lip and nodded. This whole time he told himself that it would turn out like this, but he hoped that he was wrong. Max hoped that Juliet might have been different than what he expected her to be. “I just…it’s meant a lot to me the last couple of weeks.”  
  
Max nodded and watched her closely. Inside he was crushed. He had nothing more to say as he looked her over. He wished he had something charming to say, but all he could feel was pain. The ache from being turned down yet again from someone else was too much for him. The last few weeks meant more to him than she would have ever began to imagine. A few weeks for her were a few months for him. When he had seen her in the hospital when he was with August, he so deeply wanted to approach her, but couldn’t. When he saw her flyer, he thought it was the perfect opportunity. He thought it was a sign, but once again the world was fucking with him.  
  
“Well, I should go…I…” she still seemed uncomfortable as he nodded. “I’ll see you.”  
  
“Yeah, have a nice day,” Max spoke up almost sadly, not like she noticed as she passed around him. The fact that she confirmed that what happened between them was nothing more than a mistake hurt. It felt like she was desperate to get away from him and that really dug the knife in deeper. He didn’t force her to be around him as hard as he would have liked. When she threw herself at him, he thought it was perfect, but now that she didn’t want to even be around him…it really crushed his heart.  
  
It was clear that she didn’t feel for him the way he felt for her and it really put a strain in his mind and body. He thought that by putting the idea that they shouldn’t put forward anything into the relationship that she might fight for it. Tell him it was worth trying again, but she folded so easily it showed that their time together meant nothing. It was just a mistake to her and it really bothered him. He saw so much more in it and the fact she didn’t even remotely feel for him the way he felt for her destroyed him.  
  
A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he squeezed his fingers into a tight fist at his right side. Looking to the coffee, he now regretted coming here. This was an awful start to the day. First his fight with August and now this. What else could go wrong?  
  
“Y/N,” Max gasped when he turned on his heel and let out a tight breath when he realized that she was standing behind him in the coffee shop. Clinging to his coffee, he let out a nervous sound and could see her staring out at him with her bright eyes. It almost looked like she regretted being there and he could feel his heart start to race in his chest. Her eyes looked away from him nervously and he felt panicked again. “How long have you been here?”  
  
“Oh, uh…” she was stuck on her words and Max could tell that by her reaction that she clearly saw his interaction with Juliet. Suddenly feeling a sense of worry rushing through him, he attempted to move in to kiss her only to feel her turn her head and he kissed her on the cheek. Gulping down heavily, he could feel the lump in the center of his throat grow larger as he moved away slowly. Shit, she was mad at him and he could tell. She lived so damn close as well. He had come here with Y/N in the past; he should have known that it was possible she would show up. “So that was Juliet, huh?”  
  
“Yeah,” he nodded feeling his throat go dry. He wanted to say something to make the moment better, but he didn’t know what to say. Looking down to the ground, he stuttered a bit and never really made out any clear words before huffing heavily. Nodding toward the door, he could see her eyes shift and he shrugged. “Maybe we can go talk outside for a moment?”  
  
“Yeah,” Y/N seemed uncomfortable when Max put his hand in over the center of her back to lead her toward the door outside. He cleared his throat again as he began to speak when they moved for the small garden that was across the street. “Listen, that wasn’t what it looked like in there.”  
  
“It looked like you were someone that was absolutely head over heels in love with a girl,” she responded with a sigh as Max frowned when she spoke the words. She wasn’t exactly wrong. She clung to the bag that was at her side and he could see she was sad with what down. This was a look he never saw on her from the first day he met her. She was always so light and bubbly. “And when she turned you down, it looked like you were crushed. I’ve been able to read your emotions since day one Max, don’t try denying that.”  
  
“Alright,” Max muttered almost in a whisper and he could see her pushing her fingertips throughout her long hair. She was right; there was no lying to her. He was never able to do it thus far, so there was no attempting it now. “I just…”  
  
“Clearly yesterday was a mistake. You were upset about a girl and I was there being nice to you. I knew from day one that you were in love with this girl, so expecting anything beyond a friendship was wrong on my part,” Y/N spoke up and he could feel a rush throughout his veins. Shaking his head, he tried to move forward, but she held her hands up to block him from moving closer. “No, I get it. I’m a rebound person and I was really only meant to be your friend in the first place.”  
  
“Whoa, hey. Hold on,” Max tried to stop her from continuing on with her words and he shook his head. “That’s not true. Yes, I like Juliet. I have this…feeling for her that I haven’t been able to shake, but you aren’t the rebound. I like you. I like you a lot. Everything I’ve said to you isn’t a lie. I’m not someone who kisses first. I wait because I’m always afraid that the person I care about won’t feel the same, but last night I kissed you first. What we had was special. I wouldn’t take those moments back for anything.”  
  
“If they were special, then why are you still trying to get Juliet to notice you and want you?” she questioned him and he felt very guilty suddenly. He had a perfect night last night and she was absolutely right. There was no reason for him to attempt what he just did when he had an amazing evening with her. “I get it Max, don’t worry about it.”  
  
“Listen, when I kiss you…” Max tried to reach out to stop her when she walked away. When she kept walking, he grasped her wrist roughly and pulled her back to him. A wince escaped her lips at the pressure he had on her wrist and he pulled his hand away, giving her an apologetic look. “What I feel with you is different than what I feel for her. I’m happy when I’m with you. When you kiss me, I feel things I’ve never felt in my life Y/N. You make me feel things that I’ve never thought were possible.”  
  
“But it still wasn’t enough,” she pointed out and he could feel his throat tensing. He had no idea what to say to make her believe him, but he knew he just messed up really bad. “If it made you happy, if I truly made you happy, you wouldn’t be in search for something more with Juliet. When you were in front of her, I didn’t even exist Max and that’s not the kind of person that I can be with. I was the stupid one for crushing on you and flirting with you. You picked up on my flirting and it just started something that was nice while it lasted, but now I think we both realize that the relationship is very unrealistic. I’m just meant to be your friend and that’s it.”  
  
“No. I don’t think of it like that,” Max stammered trying to reach out to her, but she wouldn’t let him touch her. “Can we just go somewhere to talk? Hang out for a while and just talk things over calmly?”  
  
“I don’t have time Max,” she shook her head and he could see that she was avoiding eye contact with him. He tried to plead with her, but she was having none of it.  
  
“I had a really shitty morning, okay? I was giving August his medicine and he said some really nasty things about me. Called me weak and said things about my father,” Max’s voice cracked and he could see her upset eyes meeting his. He threw his hands up and tried to play out what happened in his head. “I was upset and I wasn’t thinking right. I started thinking like I did before I started talking to you and I just…I was really upset. Juliet was there and I was just thinking about how much I thought she would make me happy in the past. If the thing with August…”  
  
“Max, we can blame a lot on your grandfather because let’s be honest, the man is an asshole,” Y/N snapped and Max could feel his jaw tensing tightly. She was very right and it didn’t bother him that she said it, it bothered him that he knew it wasn’t going to be very positive with what she said next. “But we can’t blame him for you still being in love with someone. I’m sorry he was mean to you Max, but that doesn’t change things here. If I was important, if I was the one you wanted to move forward with, that moment right there wouldn’t have just happened.”  
  
“I’m begging you to please just take a moment and sit with me. We can talk about things,” Max begged only to see her stepping backwards and away from him. He felt his body trembling slightly when he felt her pulling away from. “Y/N, please?”   
  
“I have to go home and get ready for work. I have two jobs that need to be done today Max,” Y/N answered and he frowned when she denied him the chance. “We can still be friends, don’t worry though, we can just pretend that what happened the other night, didn’t.”  
  
“I don’t want to pretend that it didn’t happen,” Max called out as he watched her start to walk back in the direction of her home. Max stood there frozen. He didn’t know how to handle normal situations, let alone ones like this. “Please…I’m sorry.”  
  
Y/N kept walking and Max could feel an ache in his chest. That was two women that denied him today. One was someone who clearly didn’t care for him and the other was one that cared for him greatly, but he hurt because he was too blind to see a good thing when it was right there in front of him. In the situation he was in now, he wasn’t sure how to even respond other than to go into his dark ways. He needed to make a choice and he needed to make one fast.  


* * *

 

Standing outside of Y/N’s apartment, Max could feel his chest rising and falling as he waited. When she took off on him, Max did the one thing that he knew that he was good at. He followed her. He didn’t know how to approach her or what to even say, but he knew that he had to talk to her. When she hadn’t come out, he had begun to wonder if she had lied to him about having a job to do today.  
  
Stepping in closer to the doors of her apartment building, he looked inside to see one of her neighbors moving down the stairs. Stepping aside quickly, he knelt down to act like he was tying his shoe. He waited long enough for the guy to leave the building and he quickly stumbled for the door before it closed. Pushing it open, he moved up the steps toward her apartment and took a long down the hallway. It was empty and as he approached the door of her apartment, he heard the sound of the handle starting to wiggle and he quickly moved back toward the opposite hallway.  
  
Quickly hiding himself, he watched Y/N carrying some things out of her apartment and gulped down as he watched her closely. He watched her start to move toward the stairs to leave, but heard her cuss out and drop the things that she was carrying. She searched her body for something before looking over her shoulder. Max quickly hid himself, hoping that she wasn’t able to see him and when he looked back carefully he could see that she was messing with the decorative plant in the hallway. She was pushing in the pot and Max’s nose wrinkled as he watched her. A smirk pressed in over the corners of his lips when he saw her pull out a key and watched her walk over toward her door to open it. Soon after, she came back out with her keys that she clearly had originally forgotten before heading back to the plant to place the spare key back where it was.  
  
When he heard her steps heading down the stairs, he moved forward and looked at the plant. Part of him wanted to grab that key and go into her room. Actually everything in his body wanted to do that, but when he heard her steps getting fainter, he knew that he actually wanted to follow her. See what she was doing today. He knew that he had things that he was supposed to get done at his apartment building, but when she told him off this morning, it really made him realize how desperate he actually was to keep her in his life the way that they were headed for before he messed it up.  
  
Quickly moving down the stairs, he waited at one of the landings to make sure she had left the building before he took off after her. He kept a good distance between the two of them. He knew that Y/N was perceptive and would be able to catch onto him if he didn’t stay far back enough. When he saw her stop at a park, he paused on the sidewalk and took a look around. Obviously, he couldn’t follow her into the small park. She would spot him in an instant. Taking a look at the buildings, he spotted a small coffee shop and decided that he would hang out there to watch her. It was the safest spot to keep hidden so she couldn’t spot him. It was right across the street, but he thought it would be far enough away that it would definitely be the best spot to spy on her.

It seemed like she was setting up for a photo shoot as he took a seat near one of the windows to watch her. Biting into his bottom lip, he tapped his fingers against the top of the table while he watched her take photos of a couple. He assumed that it was for an engagement of some kind and while she looked happy, he could tell that what happened from this morning was still weighing in over her. Usually she had a lot more energy to her, but she was lagging today and he could see it. Maybe it was because he had grown to being around her and knowing her energy, but he could tell that she was faking her excited actions.   
  
He should have felt awful for what happened earlier, but he really didn’t. Yeah, he felt guilty, but the fact that he could upset her that much over what happened this morning meant that she really felt for him. Her affection for him wasn’t fake. It wasn’t just a moment like Juliet had been. She genuinely cared about Max and the fact he could hurt her meant that her compassion for him was real.   
  
When she started packing up, he carefully got up from the table and moved outside of the coffee shop. He waited in one of the alleyways watching her closely as she grabbed her things. The sun was starting to set and he knew that she said she had two jobs to do today.

Following her closely when he had seen her head off in the other direction. He stopped when he watched her go into a club. The bouncer let her in and he let out an angered sound. Max was not very social. He hated going into busy places and doing things that was out of his comfort zone, but he knew that he wanted to follow her. To watch her and learn what she was doing.  
  
“You’re lucky you’re here early man, big event tonight,” the bouncer at the door handed Max one of the flyers and Max let out a disgusted noise. Great. Big event meant lots of people. Just the kind of thing that Max hated. Walking into the club, he held his hand up when he found himself blinded by the flashing lights that were around him.

It had been a very long time since he had been in place like this and he almost regretted coming in. That was until he spotted Y/N setting things up near the stage at the front of the club. Heading for the bar, Max took a seat at the far end to keep himself hidden from her. He ordered a drink and just stayed there. His eyes never left her. She seemed a bit stressed with all the work she had to do during the set up and as the night got later, the bouncer was right. It was a very, very busy night. It was hard to keep a watch on her as she clearly took photos of the event and the band that was playing. It must have been a popular group, but it was definitely one that Max had no idea of. Then again, he wasn’t very good with popular culture.   
  
“Shit…” Max stood up from the bar and looked around the crowded club as people danced. Pushing himself into the crowd, he realized that he had lost sight of Y/N. His eyebrow arched up as he could feel his heart racing. Quickly pushing himself further into the crowd, he could feel people all around him shoving at his body and he could feel the room around him closing. So many people around him, shoving into him and the loud music caused him to gasp for air. He hated places like this. Quickly pushing through the crowd, he looked for the quickest empty area and stumbled to get to it. It was hard to breathe, his heart was hammering and it felt like he was close to passing out. He was having a panic attack and he could feel it. His body felt like it was about to shut down. His heart hammered, the room spun around him and his whole body felt like jelly. It had been so long since had a full blown panic attack from his social anxiety, but as he stumbled for the table before him, he knew it was hitting him hard. Clutching onto the nearest table that he reached, he tried inhaling deeply to relax himself. Maybe it was time to just give up. He could feel his hands trembling and his eyes shifted uncomfortably. The loud music, the amount of people and the general feel of the club just made him extremely uncomfortable. Everything about this place was against everything that he was.   
  
Giving the area one final look over, he could see Y/N in the hallway leading toward the back of the stage standing on the ramp to get a better photo of the band and the people there. Gulping down, he felt a rush of courage flooding into his body and he quickly moved in her direction. The music was too loud for her to realize he was there as he moved in behind her. Hooking his arm around her waist, he pulled her back toward him and tugged her further up the ramp until they were in a private area of the hallway. Her body flailed against him as he pushed her firmly against the wall and he moved forward to press his lips heavily against hers.  
  
Her hand smacked at the center of his chest thinking that it was a stranger that had come up on her and when she realized it was Max, she pulled away and stared out at him with a confused expression. The sounds of the club were slightly muffled out while the two of them were together in the small hallway.  
  
“What the hell Max?” she blurted out, carefully setting her camera down on the ground before turning to him. Without further warning, Max slammed her against the wall again, causing a whimper to escape her lips before he was back at kissing her. His lips pressed in over hers again and again clearly hoping to elicit some kind of emotion in her after what happened this morning. A moan escaped her lips when he squeezed in over her sides firmly. Her mouth involuntarily opened to his as he pushed his tongue within her warmth. His kiss fooled her for a moment before she clearly got her thoughts back together. Her hands pressed in over his shoulders as she pushed him back and shook her head. “Did you follow me here?”  
  
“Follow you here?” Max muttered with a laugh when he thought of a reason he would know that she would be there. Shit. She was starting to catch onto his ways as he reached up to cup her jaw in his large palms and he shook his head. “I was in your apartment the other day. When you were in the shower I was looking around and saw…”  
  
“The calendar on the fridge,” she responded with a heavy sigh and Max nodded. She gave him a way out without him even having to try hard. She let out a noise showing that she felt stupid for accusing him of following her. Max moved into kiss her again and she pulled away from him. “What the hell are you doing here?”  
  
“Listen, I couldn’t end things the way that they did this morning,” Max began, his hands reaching out to cup her hips in his hands, squeezing at them tightly. He pulled her in closer to him and watched her shocked eyes staring out at him. “I came here; even though it’s against everything I am to find you. I can’t have you thinking that you are just a rebound Y/N. I care about you more than you will ever begin to know and…”  
  
“Max, I’m working,” she shut him down, pushing her hand into the center of his chest and his hazel eyes stared out at her with a saddened look. She firmly pushed into the center of his chest again, making him stumble back and toss his hands up in a confused manner. “I can’t do this right now. I have a job that I could get fired for because of this.”  
  
“Just wait,” Max tried to pull her hand to him and she pulled away from him with an angered breath. “Y/N, please?”  
  
“I just hope that I won’t get fired if someone saw this Max,” she let out another angered grunt before stomping off in the other direction and Max could feel an ache in his chest growing.

Slumping down, he brushed his fingers into his hair and let out an angered breath. Looking to the exit sign just down the hallway, he quickly got up and moved in that direction. Kicking his foot firmly into the door, he heard it slam open with a thud and he walked out into the alleyway.

Pacing back and forth, he let out an angry hiss before turning and kicking into the garbage cans in front of him. His body was tense, his mind running wild as he could feel the sense of rejection that he had grown accustomed to filling his body. He felt extreme rage and he didn’t know how to get rid of it. Moving down the alleyway, he spotted a building that seemed abandoned. Looking at the reflection of himself in the window, he felt the anger at seeing his own face. This was all of his own fucking fault and he never hated himself more than he did right now. It felt like everything was swallowing in closer to him and he felt a rage filling his body as he looked at his reflection. All of it seemed to build up inside of his head causing him to lash out as he swung his fist into the window. The hit was hard enough to make the glass shatter and he pulled his hand back to see that it was dripping with blood. The breaking of the glass clearly cut him, but he didn’t care. Looking around the alleyway, he made sure that he was alone before looking to his hand again. Squeezing it tightly, he watched a long line of blood drip from his hand and he huffed heavily.   
  
What he had just done with Y/N was totally against everything that he was and she still turned him down. He thought that if she knew he did it for her that she would forgive him, knowing the kind of person that he was and that wasn’t even close to what happened. She turned him down and she turned him down hard.   


* * *

 

Sitting in the empty apartment, Max looked to his hand that he had wrapped up. It wasn’t wrapped very well and the blood was soaking through it. It was a shit fix job on his end, but he really didn’t care. An angered breath escaped his lips as he wrapped his arms around his legs.

Rocking his body back and forth where he was seated in the corner of apartment, he could still feel his mind running wild. All night he had been up thinking about the things that had happened. It was now far into the morning and he was sitting in the apartment that he was currently renovating. Plastic was thrown out on the floor because he was supposed to be painting today, but he couldn’t find himself even ready to start. All the supplies were ready, but he couldn’t find the energy to get over his thoughts. Never in his life had he been turned away several times in one day and he couldn’t wrap his mind around it. Yesterday was just a very overall shitty day. One that really messed him up.

The sound of a knocking at the door seemed to pull him from his thoughts. Looking up, he saw the door slowly being pushed open and he let out a heavy breath when he saw Y/N standing in the doorway. He perked up and could feel the muscles in his face relaxing when he saw her stepping into the apartment with him.  
  
“Hey,” she spoke softly and Max quickly got to his feet, brushing off the dust that had accumulated on his clothes. Staring out at her with a confused expression, he watched her closing the door behind her and he didn’t know how to respond. “I went to your apartment and I talked to an older gentleman that told me you were in here. I’m guessing it was your grandfather and he thought I was a bill collector. Probably why he was eager to send me to you.”  
  
Max nodded and tilted his head to the side. He gulped down heavily. He didn’t even know how to respond to her.  
  
“Listen, I was wrong with the way I acted last night. I know that you hate big groups of people and you have social anxiety. It was a big thing for you to come out to me to try and apologize last night. I should have thought about that,” she began with a heavy sigh and Max could feel the tension in his chest loosening as he watched her closely. “I was still upset and I was distracted with work. It was one of the first bigger paying jobs that I have gotten since I’ve been here. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like I did.”  
  
“I understand, I shouldn’t have bothered you at work,” Max finally muttered with a frown. He shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the ground. He kicked slightly at the plastic that was put down on the wooden floor and shrugged. “You don’t have to apologize. I fucked up pretty bad yesterday.”  
  
“No, I do have to apologize. You didn’t deserve that. I got jealous and I acted like a child,” she moved in closer to the center of the room they were in and she folded her arms out in front of her chest. Her bright eyes stared out at him as he gulped down. “I care about you Max, a lot. More than I should because I knew that when we became friends that you were broken and needed a friend to be there for you. You were in love with someone and I knew that. I’m sorry that I let our relationship get…”  
  
“I care about you too,” Max blurted out with an uneasy breath. He reached up to caress his hand over his rough stubble and he shrugged his shoulders. “Y/N, yeah, I feel something for Juliet, but only because I’ve been…for lack of a better term, obsessed for quite some time. I should have been thinking clearer and I wasn’t. I lost track of the way that I felt the day before. You made me feel happiness for the first time in a very long time. I’ve never had a day where I felt happy throughout most of it. Typical days for me are quite awful. I mean, they are really bad. So when I was with you, I had never had a day where I could just relax and be…happy. With you, I have that. Yesterday, when you were upset with you…I don’t know if I’ve ever been that miserable. When you wouldn’t talk to me, I was just…I was miserable.”  
  
“Tell me you didn’t do that because of me,” she begged when she finally saw his right hand that was wrapped in the white bandage. He sighed heavily and looked down at his hand that had small drips of blood falling onto the plastic covering the floor. She moved across the room and looked down at his hand, taking the bandage and pulled it from his hand. Looking down at the gash over the inside of his palm, she let out a gasp and shook her head. “Max, what the hell?”  
  
“The best thing you could do for yourself right now is turn around and walk out those doors,” Max’s voice cracked as he felt her holding his hand in hers. His voice was broken and he could feel his body trembling when she traced over his rough hand. “I’m a monster Y/N. I will only upset you like I did last night. If not worse. I get angry, I get obsessive and I hurt myself when I’m upset. If you want to avoid that kind of life, I think the best thing that can happen between the two of is that you walk out that door and never look back. You should not be the one coming in to apologize to me. It should be the opposite way and you are way too good to be part of my life. I think the best thing you could do right now is just leave and forget that you ever met me.”  
  
“Is that really what you think?” she frowned, looking up at him with her saddened eyes. His eyes were red and she could tell that by his expression, he really believed everything that he said. Reaching out, she pressed her hand in over his stubble covered face and caressed it softly. He leaned into her touch and let out a trembling sigh and she shook her head. “It only tells me more how much you really need me in your life.”  
  
Max bit into his bottom lip as he watched her sigh before tipping up to meet his lips in a soft kiss and he breathed heavily against her lips when she pulled away. Max could feel her hands clutching at the side of his shoulders before reaching up to brush into his hair.  
  
“It’s going to take a lot more than everything that’s happened to get rid of me,” she insisted with a small smile as he leaned in to press his forehead against hers. He could feel his body trembling as she caressed her fingertips against his scalp in a calming manner. “I care about you Max and I don’t give up so easily on the people I care about.”  
  
“You should, I’m not worth it,” he sighed heavily and felt her moving into press another kiss against his lips. It was a very sweet, small kiss, but it was enough to make him let out a confused breath. “I’m really not. You deserve better than me in your life.”

“No. No I don’t. You are good,” she hushed him and she could feel his good hand reaching up to press in over hers. He looked down toward the ground and she urged him to meet her glance. “I’m sorry about last night. I promise not to get as mad at you as I did. I wasn’t thinking right and I know that you can’t be alone to your thoughts. You are never going to be alone Max. I’m going to be here for you no matter what. You understand me?”

“But I don’t deserve that,” Max insisted with a heavy sigh, feeling the ache that carried over him. His thoughts all night long had been miserable and yet she was still here for him saying these things. “I don’t think very highly of myself.”   
  
“Then we need to work on you, so you can start seeing the person that you can be,” she pulled away from him and looked down at his hand. She frowned when she looked to see the wound was still bleeding pretty good. “I think you are going to have to get this looked at Max.”  
  
“I’m alright,” Max assured her with a frown and she wrapped her palm around his wrist, tugging him toward the door. “Y/N, no.”  
  
“I have a friend that is a nurse. I think you need to get stitches on that and I’m not taking no for an answer,” she pulled him into the hallway and he quickly locked up the room. Looking over his shoulder, Max could see that his grandfather was standing in the hallway watching them as Y/N tugged him toward the stairs. He could see the look that his grandfather shot him and he knew the words that August was saying in his mind. Feeling the tug of Y/N’s hand over his arm, he brushed off the idea of his grandfather off and followed her down the winding staircase of his building. “In order to get this thing going between us, we have to start fixing things. Starting with this hand of yours.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max and the OC (reader) spend time together and she ends up finding his hidden hallways.

“You really don’t have to help me with this,” Max snickered watching Y/N pulling the goggles over her face that he had given her to help him work on the renovations of the apartment. It had been a few days since she had taken him to get stitches in his hand. Her friend urged him against using his hand extensively for a while, so she quickly offered up helping him with the renovations to keep his hand safer. “I’ve got my antibiotics to keep me safe for all of this.”

“No, you’ve got the antibiotics because you have a bite to go along with that cut on your hand. The human mouth is disgusting my friend,” she turned to Max with a bright smile and he let out a laugh at the way she looked. “There is no way I’m not helping you.”

“Oh, you look good. Not sure that you are going to need those for painting, but you look good in them,” Max moved forward reaching out to wrap his arms loosely around her with another laugh. “Those were more for when we are sanding things, working with dusty surfaces. That kind of thing.”

“I don’t know, I kind of like the way they look,” she played with the goggles over her eyes as she watched the bridge of his nose wrinkle as he stared down at her. “Plus they make you smile, so that works for me. I like seeing you smile, even if it is from me looking ridiculous.”

The days that he had off resting his hand, he had spent at her house just hanging out or walking around New York with her. It had been very much like the day they had first kissed and he loved every second of it. Every day she was there to check on his hand and he was almost glad that he hurt himself. She was so eager to take care of him and make sure that he was healing. He was actually enjoying her taking care of him like she was.

“Alright, so what should I get started with first? A paintbrush or the roller? I’m guessing that one is used for…to be fair with you I’ve never really done this. I helped my father when I was kid to paint my room, but it’s been a very long time,” she informed him with a small laugh and his nose wrinkled at her giggle. He motioned her over toward the roller tray that he had already set up with primer. “I know I’m not very good with my hands.”

“I find that very hard to believe,” Max’s deep voice responded with a devilish snicker that followed and she reached to poke him in the ribs. “We’re just going to get the primer down first and then go for the paint. I’ll set that up while you get started….”

“So tell me Max, do you have a lot of people living here? This is such a big building and I haven’t really run into many people when I’ve been here,” Y/N muttered from across the room as Max grabbed a few paint cans from the other room. “Is that why you are doing all of this renovation? To try and bring new people in?”

“I guess you could say that. We have some people that have been living here since I was young. When my parents died…I kind of came into some money and that’s kept August and I afloat,” Max informed her with a heavy breath while he prepared things behind her. “I just think it is time for us to try and reach out to get other tenants here. I think the place is a bit old fashioned, so by doing renovations, then maybe we can get some people in here. Fill up the place. Like it is meant to be.”

“Well when we get these apartments cleaned up, I can take photos. Help you set up a website to try and reach out to people. These apartments are beautiful and in a great area. Other than the train being so close, but I think in New York people are going to be used to the noise by now,” Y/N informed him with a heavy breath as she started working on the wall that she was closest too. Max watched her with a smile as she stretched out on her tiptoes to try and reach as high as she could. “I’d do anything to help you.”

“Anything, huh?” Max muttered under his breath, biting into his bottom lip when he thought about that. She shouldn’t have been making promises like that toward him because then he would start to expect things like that from her. When he saw her struggling to reach part of the wall, he let out a snort and nodded toward the ladder. “You do realize we have a ladder to get to those hard to reach areas, right?”

“Oh no, I’ve got it,” she brushed him off as Max picked up the paint that he had set up and set it on one of the steps of the ladder. Stepping behind Y/N, Max grabbed a hold of the roller and used his height to help her get the rest and he heard her let out a frustrated sound. “I told you I had it.”

“I know you did,” Max nodded with a small laugh when he felt her turn to face him. Her hands pressed over her hips and a frown pressed in over her lips. Max stepped back and shrugged his shoulders. “I just thought you could use some help.”

“I’m supposed to be the one that is helping you Max,” she pointed out following him toward the ladder when he was looking at the paint that he had poured. It seemed like he was debating something very intensely before she reached out to poke him in the ribs again. “What’s on your mind?”

“Jut debating whether the blue is going to work on the walls in here,” Max looked at the room before nodding toward the bathroom. “I was thinking the blue might be better for the bathroom. Having this room blue might turn someone off from the initial look. What do you think? I was thinking maybe something more neutral in here.”

Y/N watched as he reached for the paintbrush and dipped it into the blue paint before going to the wall to do a small stripe on the wall. He stepped back and set the paintbrush down again to take a step back to look.

“It does come off a bit much, you think?” Max felt her moving around him and his eyebrow arched up when she didn’t respond. He felt her moving around behind him and he turned to face her. “What are you doing back here?” 

“Well see…I was thinking about the question and I’ve only come to one conclusion. I think the blue would look better on you,” she reached out with the paintbrush to smack it across the side of his face lightly and he jolted back from the initial shock. A giggle escaped her lips at while the paint dripped down his face. Letting out a small groan, he looked down and saw the paint dripping onto the plastic covering the wooden floor. “See…looks better on you.”

“You are a pain in the ass, you know that?” he teased reaching out to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her closer to him. He dipped down to kiss her, hearing her let out a small squeal when some of the paint got on her face. He rubbed his cheek against hers and heard her let out a tight groan. “Now we match and you are right. The paint might look better on one of us. I think you look glorious with it.”

“You jerk…” she laughed feeling him caressing over the side of her face with his thumb. Reaching up, she pushed the old baseball cap he was wearing from his head and let it drop to the floor. Her fingertips clung onto his hair and tugged slightly to bring him closer to her. “A very sexy jerk though.”

“Oh yeah?” Max snickered feeling her mouth meeting his again. Her mouth opened to his when he eagerly pushed his tongue between her lips. A moan escaped her throat when his tongue flicked over hers, taunting and teasing her flesh with his caress. Pulling away, he licked his lips and nodded slowly. “I’m going to guess this isn’t going to get very far.”

“Oh, it could go very far,” she teased, pulling him into another heavy kiss and he let out a groan when he felt her clutching to his the center of his shirt. He cautiously pulled away from her and shook his head. “What?”

“Nothing is going to be happening in this apartment,” Max informed her with a nod, his tongue sliding out in over his bottom lip as he watched her frown. “I’m injured. There is dust everywhere and you deserve much better than a romp in a dirty room.”

“A romp in a dirty room? Max, you dirty boy. Whoever said I was talking about romping?” she playfully smacked him in the center of the chest and heard him let out a tight breath. “Since when have we been talking about romping? We’ve kissed, but you are moving a little fast there, aren’t you?”

“Am I?” Max’s eyebrow arched up with an amused smirk pressing in over the center of his lips. “It seemed like that’s where you were going with what you were saying.”

“Oh no Max, you just have a very naughty mind,” she pulled the goggles from her face and looked out at him with a bright smile. “So we’ve concluded we need a different paint for this room. Huh?”

“Mhmmm, but I think I may have a different paint that may work,” Max motioned her to follow him out toward the hallway. When he led her down one of the hallways, he motioned her to wait as he moved toward the maintenance area. “I’m going to look to see if there is a certain paint in here for a second. Just wait here.”

Moving into the hidden area he had in the building, he looked back over his shoulder to make sure that she wasn’t following him before moving further behind the walls. He went to the room he had in the far back, pulling open the sliding door to move inside. He looked through the things he had stored away, searching for a paint he thought he had seen earlier. 

“Holy shit,” Y/N’s voice pressed in behind him and he jumped when he looked to see that she had followed him. He felt his heartbeat quicken and he could feel his body tensing at her being in the hidden area that he had grown up in. “This is crazy cool. You have hallways behind the walls? I didn’t even know that was a thing.”

“It is an old building, they are here for the maintenance of the building,” Max gulped down watching her reaching out to touch something and he could feel a chill running down his spine while she moved around. He didn’t even know how to react to her being in there with him. “Didn’t I tell you to wait for me?”

“Well, I got curious and I’m not very good at listening,” she answered truthfully looking down the hallways that led beyond the walls and she let out an amazed sound. “This must have been amazing to hideout in as a kid. I would have loved it. This is really cool.”

Max stayed quiet as he watched her. He never imagined anyone being back here, just him. Tilting his head to the side, he could see her moving toward another area of the maintenance halls and he knew it was the way that led toward Juliet’s room. Reaching out to grab a hold of her hand, Max pulled her back to him and shook his head. The last thing he wanted her to see was that he could still spy on Juliet, very easily in fact.

“This became my special place. Where I would hide,” Max informed her with a heavy breath and he could see her eyebrow perking up as he spoke. “When you have no one in your life to talk to, no one that wants to be around you, hiding here made things better. Actually, it never quite left me. When I’m having a hard time, I still come in here. It’s quiet and the silence comforts me.”

“Oh yeah?” she looked up at him with an odd expression before patting him on the center of the chest. “Well I can’t say I blame you because there is something creepy cool and adventurous about this place.”

“Also somewhat dangerous, so be careful where you walk,” Max motioned her to step to the side knowing that some of the wood was rotten, making it easy to break. “You don’t think it’s creepy in here?” 

“No, I think it’s cool. Yeah, a bit messy, but cool,” she looked around to the tool table he had set up in the corner and the tool chest behind it. “What I would have done to have a place like this when I was younger to get away from my family. Hell, it would still be nice to have if I lived with them. This is cool.” 

“You don’t think it’s freaky for a grown man to hide out in a place like this?” Max’s eyebrow perked up, seeing her shrug her shoulders and he felt her pulling away from him making him gasp out as he tried to grab her when she moved past the sliding door. “Hey…wait a second.”

“Which way toward the room we were just in?” she got far enough ahead that he knew she was a ways away from Juliet’s room. Clearing his throat uneasily, he motioned her forward and he watched her knock into something. Cringing, he hoped that none else was there to hear the sounds behind the walls. “Shit, I’m sorry…”

“Just…don’t hurt yourself,” Max reached down to pick up what she had knocked over he could see her eyeing something over closely and he could see that she noticed there were areas to look in on the room. He found his body completely stressed and there was nothing, but a fear filled panic reaction filling his body. She found some of his spying areas and he didn’t even know how to respond. “I can explain that…”

“The people that made this building had some crazy spying techniques,” she let out an amused laugh and he could feel his heart pounding in the center of a chest. A fake smile cracked in over the center of his lips as he saw her look over her shoulder at him before looking back. “Now I’m going to wonder if my building has the same thing. My landlord is kind of a creepy dude who I could imagine watching people. Then again, sometimes spying on people sounds kind of fun.”

“What?” Max muttered seeing her moving to the next area, flipping open something to look in on the living room area. Max found himself dumbfounded at her response. Most people would be absolutely horrified, but she didn’t seem to be too scared or turned off by the idea of people spying on others. “What do you mean by that?”

“What? You’ve never wanted to spy on people? Listen to what they were saying when they are in the private? Want to see if they are talking about you?” Y/N muttered closing the flap before looking to Max again with a smile. Max let out a confused breath and couldn’t tell if he was more relieved or worried at this point. Most people would have likely had him committed to the looney bin if they knew what he did, but here she was saying she understood people like him. “I mean, I think all of us think about that sometimes. Sure, I don’t want to watch some random person in the bathroom because that’s really awkward, but I mean we all people watch, right? You’ve never wanted to spy on someone before?”

“Not really,” Max lied, clearing his throat with shrug and he could see her eyes widening. For the first time, he lied to her. He never lied to her, but this time he thought it was for the best to do so. If she knew what he was really like, if he told the truth to her, there was no way that she would still want to be with him or be around him. Especially if she learned that he was the person that made all of the apartments so easy to spy on. She just assumed that was the way they were originally made and he didn’t want her to think any other way. “I always found the fact that I could so easily spy on people kind of creepy. I mean what if someone got back here and saw me in my room? I’m weird enough as it is, if people knew the real me…that’d be kind of messed up. You know?”

“Well shit, now I feel odd,” she let out a hesitant laugh and carefully pushed around him in the small hall to move back toward the larger maintenance room where he had things stored. Max could tell that she felt awkward and that wasn’t really his intention. Shit, he was a freak when it came to spying on people. She says she can understand it and he made her feel like a freak. “Can we forget that you heard me say that? I mean, people watch others all the time at the park and things like that. It’s something a lot of people do, I was just saying…”

“You’re saying you’re a voyeur,” Max muttered from behind her, slightly pushing her body up against one of the storage containers that he had. Instead of letting her feel awkward and odd, he wanted to get onto another subject…and fast. This whole thing made him feel quite strange. Her hands fell forward against the container as he pushed his hands up and over her waist. Caressing over them slowly, his hands slid up higher before he tipped in closer to press a soft kiss over the side of her neck. “I like that…”

“Not exactly what I was saying, but…” she sighed feeling his mouth trailing over the side of her neck. A soft whimper escaped her lips when she felt his tongue flicking against her skin and his lips continued to lower down. When he reached the neckline of her shirt, he reached up to carefully push the material away from her shoulder. His lips soon followed the motions and she leaned further back into him. His teeth slightly nipped at her flesh, causing her body to tremble upon contact. A smirk pressed in over his features as he felt her shaking in his hands. The sounds she made were driving him crazy and only further urged him to continue when his right arm curled around her waist pulling her hips closer to his. “I just thought this was all very cool.”

“You have no idea,” he slurred against her skin, his hand sliding up under the material of her shirt to trace over her abdomen. His rough fingers teased over her smooth flesh, taking the time to appreciate the flawless skin. Never did he think he would ever have her in a position like this, allowing him to touch her and kiss her like this. It was like she was almost begging for more as she pushed her body back against him. Looking down, he watched her bottom press in against his groin causing a moan to fall from his lips. Reaching up with his left hand, he tangled his fingertips into her hair and pulled back slightly so that she could see him when turning her head to the side. A wide smile pressed in over his lips when he caught the lustful stare she was giving him. Her hips seemed to slowly start to rub back against him and he let out a shuddering breath. Forcefully moving forward, he claimed her lips in a kiss and urged her closer to him with his right hand. “You are always a constant source of surprise Y/N.”

A small laugh escaped her lips before he pressed in to kiss her forcefully. Lowering his arms, he grabbed a tight hold of her hips and forced her to face him, making her let out a gasp with his movement. Picking her up in his arms, he lifted her and carefully set her on top of the container. Reaching up, he cupped her face in his rough hands and caressed over her jawline with his thumbs. He took his time memorizing her features and he smiled.

“I’m so worried of scaring you away, you know that?” Max spoke up, seeing her brow line crease when he said that. He moved in to kiss her again, but she stopped him and pressed her fingertips over his lips, caressing over the wet flesh. “There is so much about me…”

“Scare me away? Oh honey, whatever made you think that…needs to get right out of your head right now,” she hushed him moving in to kiss him again and he could feel her fingertips caressing up and over his stubble covered jawline.

“I don’t know,” he breathed against her lips, kissing her eagerly over and over again. “I go from being a miserable man, looking for love in the wrong place and then I run into this beautiful girl. Who has more faith in me than I’ve ever had in myself…I’m kind of fucking terrified.”

She was quick to hush him again as he stared out at her with his beautiful hazel eyes. His long eyelashes fluttered and his eyes shifted uneasily while she traced over his masculine features. She reached out to grab a hold of his shirt, tugging him in closer to her to meet her lips in another heavy kiss.

Her arms were eager to wrap around his shoulders before squeezing him in closer to her. A groan escaped his lips when he felt her tugging on his bottom lip with her teeth and he could feel her starting a fire inside of him. Aggressively pulling her closer to him, he could hear her whimper out against his lips as he desperately kissed her. Her fingertips tugged at his hair and when he felt her hands starting to trail down, he let out a nervous breath. Everything he touched turned to shit, no matter who it was and now that they were here doing this, he began to panic.

“You are so fucking gorgeous, you know that?” she muttered when he pulled his lips from hers and he could feel her lips pressing in over the side of his neck that didn’t have paint covering his skin. A heavy exhale escaped his lips when he felt her biting into the flesh and he found his body involuntarily tensing up. “So perfect…”

A small moan escaped his lips when her hand found its way between the two of them to softly cup him in her hand. Looking down, he watched her hand caressing over the front of his pants and he let out an uneasy sound. Her teeth began nipping over his jawline and he could so easily find himself falling into this all over again, but he wasn’t sure this was how he wanted to start things with her. His head tipped up, but he felt the panic starting to eat him alive. He didn’t want to lose her like he lost everyone else. Pulling away from her, he heard her let out a confused breath and he kneeled down to the corner of the storage room. “Max?”

“Just give me a minute,” Max held up his hand and he could hear her standing up from where she was. He looked over his shoulder to see that she was confused and he stood up slowly. Her hands were trembling and he could tell that her body had gotten quite worked up from their contact. “I can’t do that.”

“I’m sorry; I wasn’t trying…” she began to apologize, knowing by the expression on his face he seemed quite upset. “I’m sorry…”

“No, I want to do that. I just can’t do that,” Max began with a heavy sigh before reaching up to push his hands into his messy hair. He let out a strained sound before shaking his head. “I’m not lying to you when I tell you that I get obsessed with people. Bad. If we do something like that, I’m afraid that I’m going to fuck it all up. I’m afraid that I’m going to mess up everything between the two of us and I can’t do that. I just…”

“That’s not going to happen,” she hushed him, reaching out to caress her hands over the sides of his face. A smirk pressed in over her lips when she caressed over the drying blue paint. “Max, I care about you. I’m not going to be upset with you liking me too much. I’m not scared.”

“But I am,” he reached up with his good hand to lower hers and he shook his head again before biting into his bottom lip. “You have no idea how strange it is to go from thinking you met the love of your life and then the universe just throws out this perfect girl at you. It’s like having everything you’ve thought you known change in an instant and I don’t want it to just be the universe fucking with me. Giving me a taste of what it’s like to have someone so amazing and then pull her away because I’m…me.”

“What are you so scared of Max? What are you afraid about you doing? What are you afraid of me finding out?” she leaned back against the container that she was on top of moments earlier. “Just tell me now, get it out of the way so we can…try. I can tell you some of my darkest secrets if it makes you feel better.”

“Secrets are meant to be secrets for a reason,” Max answered uncomfortably, tugging at his clothing to try and make things a little bit more comfortable for him. “I care about you a lot and I don’t want to ruin a good thing. I don’t think I’ll be able to do anything like that until I know I can trust myself around you. That’s all.”

“That’s good enough reason for me I guess,” she nodded as his eyebrows strained and he motioned her back out of the maintenance area. “So now what?”

“We should probably get the paint off our faces,” Max reached out to grab a hold of her hand and motioned her toward his apartment. Pulling her into his bedroom, he could see her eyeing things over and he nodded toward the bathroom. “While I think the paint looks good on you, probably not best to keep it on our skin.”

Max motioned her to sit up on counter next to his sink and he reached for a towel. He put it under hot water and reached out to caress it over her skin in a gentle manner. A smile pressed in over her lips and he tilted his head to the side almost amused with her. “What?”

“It’s weird. You taking care of me,” she whispered watching him clean the towel under the water before stepping in front of her again to clean the rest of the paint that was left over. “I like it.”

“Well, you need to be a mess more often then,” Max teased her with a wink before feeling her reaching for the towel to use. She pulled him in closer to her and he let out a hesitant breath when he felt how close he was to her again. Her hand reached up to do the same motions he had done with her. She cleaned the paint from his beard and he gulped down uneasily. “I guess I want to be able to take care of someone as well as they take care of me.”

“You can start practicing with me, if you’d like?” she muttered with a heavy breath. Her body turned on top of the counter to run the towel under the water and he could see the water turning a pale color of blue. She turned to face him again, wiping off the remainder of the paint before caressing over his wet features. “Handsome as hell.”

“I don’t deserve you,” Max breathed uneasily, moving in to kiss her again only to feel her teasingly press her fingers over his lips to stop him from kissing her. He gave her an odd expression as she lowered her hands toward the center of his chest. “What?”

“So are we officially considering us as together now, or…? Not just kissing friends?” she questioned, biting into her bottom lip as the bridge of Max’s nose wrinkled. His tongue slid out in over his bottom lip when she felt his hands reaching up to caress over her thighs. “I’m just asking because I need to know here. What’s our title? Saying you don’t deserve me kind of means I belong to you. So am I yours?”

“Do you want to be?” Max rumbled with a crooked grin, caressing his thumbs over the inside of her thighs and he it caused her to tremble on the counter before him. 

“That depends,” she reached out to brush his hair out of his face and he bit into his bottom lip. “Do you want me to be?”

“Very much so,” he answered truthfully, sliding his tongue out over his bottom lip and he knew that having her consider herself as belonging to him probably wasn’t the best of ideas when he was an obsessive person. He just couldn’t help playing along with her. “And I’d love to be yours.”

“Well then, I think we can agree to be an item then my sweet Max,” she winked down at him and went to kiss him. Max tipped up to attempt to meet her lips in a kiss, but he heard her gasp and he looked over his shoulder to see August standing in the doorway of his bathroom. Turning toward his grandfather, Max could feel Y/N getting down from the counter behind him and moving in closer to him. 

“August,” Max muttered seeing the disgusted look that his grandfather gave him. Max looked down toward the ground when he felt the same fears he had in front of his grandfather returning. “We were just…”

There was a silence between them as Y/N moved around Max and stepped in front of him. She reached her hand out to August and tried to introduce herself. August gave her a long look over before taking her hand in his.

“We were just cleaning up. I was helping Max renovate one of the apartments,” she explained and August feigned a smile before looking beyond her to Max again. “I’m Y/N.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Y/N. I’m just a little surprised to meet you when my grandson was lusting over another young woman not so long ago,” August muttered with a frown and Y/N looked over her shoulder to see Max rubbing at the back of his neck uneasily. “I’m wondering what someone as beautiful as you are is doing with my grandson.”

“Because I like your grandson, very much,” she responded with a wide smile and Max’s head perked up when she spoke up to August. “I’d love to talk to you about how much I enjoy his company one day, but right now we have to finish working on that apartment. I’ll be excited to talk with you the next time I’m here though. It was a pleasure to meet you August.”

Max felt Y/N grabbing a hold of his hand and he felt her pulling him around August. She led him out of the apartment and through the halls of the building. When she urged him back into the apartment they were originally in, he felt her reaching out to grab a soft hold of his hands.

“What was that? I feel like I just watched the young boy come right out of you there Max,” she sighed heavily and Max shrugged his shoulders. That was something that August did. Always made him feel the worst about himself and there was no changing that. “Don’t let him bully you Max. He’s an old man with old views of the world. Don’t let him swallow you up. You are too good for that.”

“I know…I just…” Max breathed heavily and he shrugged his shoulders. “Let’s just…work on finishing this up. Okay?”

“Alright…” she nodded, tipping up to kiss him softly before returning to the paint that he had set out. She didn’t want to push the topic much further, but it was clear that August brought out the worst in Max and she hoped that one day she could help him stop that from that happening.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the OC (reader) cancels a date with Max, he becomes obsessed with why and goes to her apartment to see if he can find out why.

Sitting at the park across the street from Y/N’s apartment, Max relaxed back and let out a heavy breath while he sat there waiting. Today the two of them had plans to go out and explore more of New York, but she had called him to cancel early in the morning. While he wanted to be normal and just accept that, Max had a hard time doing so. He looked up toward her apartment window and took a long swig of the coffee that he had gotten himself. He had been there several hours, waiting to see if she left her apartment or came back, but there was nothing. When she had talked to him this morning and he asked her what was up, she wasn’t really big on the details, just told him that they would reschedule for something better. That alone made him weary about the phone call.

She was never really one to keep things from him, but when she didn’t tell him much—his mind instantly went to something bad. With a mind like his, it was hard not to think the worst when someone would cancel on him. He couldn’t help his wandering mind from stopping and thinking about things. Things had been going great for a while with Juliet too before the shit hit the fan with her as well. It would have been the right thing to just go home and wait for her to call him back, but he couldn’t. It may have been wrong to sit outside of her house like this, but he needed answers. 

Getting restless, he moved up from the bench and he began to walk across the street toward her apartment building. Tossing his coffee cup in the trash, he reached out to push the button to buzz her in her apartment. Looking up, he waited several minutes before trying again. Clearing his throat uneasily, he waited and nothing.

Thinking things over, he bit into his bottom lip and began pressing multiple buttons to buzz other people in her building. If he could get someone to let him into the building, then he would be able to scope out her apartment to see if she was really home or not. After a while, one of her neighbors responded and he quickly moved forward to the intercom. 

“Delivery,” Max muted his tone and tried to sound different so that the person wouldn’t be able to hear his voice and notice him if they were able to run into each other again in the building. He looked around to make sure no one was around the building as he spoke. He didn’t need someone noticing him and telling Y/N that he was sneaking around her home. 

The person buzzed him into the building, unlocking the door and Max quickly found his way inside of the building. Walking up the stairs and to the floor of Y/N’s apartment, he moved down the hallway and took a look around to make sure that no one was there. Reaching out cautiously, Max knocked on her door waiting to hear if he heard something inside. When there was no response, he moved toward the decorative plant where he knew that she had placed the spare key. It was wrong for him to break into her apartment, but he couldn’t help himself. With the kind of morning he had been having, he just had to have answers as to why she ditched him today.

Finally finding the key, he looked to make sure he was alone in the hallway before moving to her apartment door and unlocking it. Quickly moving back to the plant, he put her spare key back before moving into her apartment. Closing and locking the door behind him, Max took a look around the empty apartment and sighed heavily. It was dangerous with him being alone in her apartment, but he couldn’t help himself. He said that he would try to be different with Y/N, but with how close they had gotten, he didn’t understand why she would cancel on him without much of an explanation. He knew that this wasn’t making himself better, it was just falling back into his old ways, but frankly he didn’t give a shit.

Taking a look around, he saw a pile of photos on her coffee table in front of her couch and he moved that way. Dropping down on the couch, he looked through the photos and saw that a majority of them were ones that she had taken of him. Smirking, he found himself charmed that she wanted to print out photos of him. In a few of them, he looked absolutely miserable, but the rare ones where he was smiling, he knew that was all due to her. Pushing through a few more of the photos, he stopped on the one he found of the two of them in the park together. Sliding his thumb over the photograph, he sighed and wished that he could steal this without her knowing. It was the perfect photo, but he knew that she would likely realize that it was missing. Setting the photo back into the pile, he looked around her apartment and could see that a few things were thrown about. 

Standing up from the couch, he took a look around to see if he could find her camera. When he came up short and found nothing, he realized that she must have taken the camera with her to a job. Maybe something sudden came up and that’s why she cancelled.

With that information alone, he should have left her apartment. He should have let things go, but he just couldn’t find it in himself to do that. Moving toward her bathroom, he stepped inside to see that she still had his toothbrush that she had given him the first day he stayed there with her. The fact that she had something that belonged to him in her apartment made him happy. It meant he had a place here and it honestly made him feel better than it really should have. 

Moving out of the bathroom and looking to her bed, he saw a pile of clothes in the middle of it. He moved across the room to grab a hold of the tank top on top of the pile. Pulling it up to his nose, he smelled the clothing and smiled when her familiar scent intoxicated him. He loved the scent of the perfume she used, then again he was pretty sure he would like anything that she had or did. Lowering the shirt, he tossed it back where it was on the bed and looked around the apartment uneasily. Seeing that her laptop was slightly opened on the counter, he moved toward it and pushed it open. The first thing that was opened was an editing program where she had been clearly editing some of the photos from the other night at the club.

Pulling up the internet browser she had opened, he clicked through the tabs until he found a link opened where she had done a search on him. Feeling his chest tightening, he wondered why she had been looking him up and he looked through the links that she had found on him. There was a mention on one of them about his family and his parent’s death and he found himself frustrated. Why was she looking him up? Had he not been open enough with her about his life that she felt like she needed to look him up on the internet? 

Taking a moment to think things over, he tried to get himself to relax as he thought about the situation. He didn’t blame her for trying to learn more about him. Hell, who was he to judge when he would have done anything to learn more about her? It was only normal for someone to be intrigued with someone’s past.

Clicking through the remainder of the tabs, he looked to see that her e-mail was open and he could feel a lump growing in throat when he saw that her last e-mail was with someone named Christian. The Christian that he assumed was the same guy he had found the photo of in her dresser. Their conversation talked about her meeting up with him today and he let out angered noise. He had thought maybe it was a job that she had taken, but she ditched him today for another man and he found himself absolutely irritated with the idea.

Closing her computer back up to the way that it was, Max took another look around her apartment and could feel his body heating up. He clenched his fist at his side and heard the sound of the door handle shaking. Looking around the apartment, he cussed to himself and tried to think of somewhere to hide. Spinning on his heel, he saw the window and quickly moved for it, pulling it open. He could hear the door handle turning and he stepped out onto the fire escape quickly. Keeping the window partially opened, he leaned his back against the brick wall and breathed uneasily when he heard two voices inside of her apartment.

“Well, that was odd,” a male’s voice filled his ears as Max bit down on his bottom lip angrily. Looking over his shoulder he could see the man from the photo that he had seen in her dresser pulling his jacket off while Y/N moved not far behind him into her apartment. Christian had moved over to her coffee table and reached down to pick up one of the photos that Max had been looking at earlier. “What do you have going on here?”

“I’m just working on something personal,” Y/N moved across the room and set her camera down on her bed as Max hid carefully from their sight. Trying to clench down as much as possible, he didn’t want someone to hear him and realize that he had broken into her apartment. “You shouldn’t be touching those really.”

“Is this the guy?” Christian snorted when Max saw him picking up one of the photos that Y/N had taken of him. “I knew you had a thing for older guys, but shit…this guy isn’t your typical type.”

“Oh, right because not all men can be as beautiful as you are,” she mocked Christian, reaching out to grab a hold of the photo and set it back down where it was. Christian smiled and dropped down on the couch. Max cringed when he looked over his shoulder to see the blonde sitting on the couch. He looked arrogant as hell with his bright smile and Max could feel his fist clenching at his side. Just the sight of this guy pissed him off. “His name is Max.”

“Ah, Max. The clingy one with the family issues,” Christian snorted and Max could feel his jaw clenching when he stared out at the conceited blonde that was sitting on her couch. “You know there is a reason he isn’t married, right? He’s clearly all kinds of fucked up.”

“And you know this how?” she retorted, scooping up the photos and moving them to a bag that she had on her dresser. Christian rolled his eyes and nodded toward her. “You should probably know a person before you decide they aren’t worth my time.”

“Right,” Christian smiled brightly and Max found himself completely irritated with the man that was with Y/N. He looked like a model that had stepped right off the cover of a magazine and he could find his jealous side pressing in over him. Was this typical type of man that she was into? “I forgot you are the person that collects the broken and tries to fix them. I mean, he’s not an ugly guy…but he’s still living at home with his grandfather. He has no friends…”

“He takes care of his sick grandfather Christian. August needs daily shots and without Max it is very likely that he would die,” Max heard her defending him and he could feel the rage that was growing in his body. This stranger that barely even knew him was sitting there judging him and that was exactly what he hated about the world. This arrogant asshole that was spending time with Y/N was the epitome of everything he hated. Someone who would take a few facts about someone and instantly judge him. Make him out to be a freak. “He was abused by his grandfather his whole life. You of all people should understand what it is like to be singled out and made to feel like you are a freak.” 

A huff escaped Max’s lips when he heard her say that to Christian. There was no way some pretty boy model type would understand something like that. Most of men like that were handed everything they wanted. The idea that she was comparing the two of them sickened Max. 

“Max has a lot of self-defeating thoughts because that’s how he was raised. He was told he was nothing and that’s why he believed it. You should meet him, he’s really charming and cute,” Y/N’s voice boasted and he could feel his chest getting a little less tight over how she was talking about him. “There is something about those dimples that just…” 

“I get it; I know why you are obsessed with him…” Christian snapped his fingers with a small laugh and Max’s eyebrow ached up in curiosity. From where he was standing pressed against the wall, he could only see Christian, but could hear Y/N off in the distance. “He’s got to have a huge cock, right?” 

“Jesus, would you shut up?” Y/N laughed from the opposite side of the apartment and Max moved to the other side of the wall to look in carefully in the other window to see her standing by her counter drinking a coffee that she had clearly brought back. “You need help. You know that?” 

“Well why else would you have so many photos of this guy?” Christian’s voice muttered and Max kept a close eye on her, watching her shrug and drink some more of her coffee before setting it down on the counter. “Is he good in the sack?” 

“I haven’t slept with him,” she huffed out and Max could feel the muscles in his neck aching from the position that he was in. Trying to keep himself hidden wasn’t exactly easy out on a fire escape of a building he knew nothing about. “I like him.” 

“Ah, yet you ditched him to be with me today,” Christian’s voice reminded her and that’s when Max could feel his whole body tensing up at the thought. “He’s clearly not that important if you are sitting with me here in your apartment and not him.” 

“Max doesn’t need to be with me constantly. I think I’ve made it pretty clear how I feel about him,” she insisted, moving around the counter to grab a hold of some papers that she had out. “I will make it up to him. You on the other hand…” 

Feeling his foot slip, Max gasped when he felt his foot connecting with a flower pot that was outside and he cringed. There was nowhere for him to run. If he took off, one of the two in the apartment would definitely see him through the windows. 

“What the hell is that?” Max heard Christian mutter and Max pressed his back as far against the brick wall, hoping that he would be able to keep himself from being seen. If someone opened the window and looked out though, they would definitely see him. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Max heard Y/N call out and he could feel his heart hammering in his chest. The fear of getting caught was real. In his apartments he knew every spot backwards and forward. He had the walls to hide behind. Here, he was completely vulnerable. “There is a stray cat that I have been feeding. She’s probably just out there.”

“See, you collect the broken and heal them,” Christian stood up from the couch and Max moved again seeing Christian moving to Y/N to press his hands in over her sides. “It’s part of your little mood right now, so we’re just going to have to deal with that I suppose.”

“I don’t miss your attitude, that’s for sure,” she tapped Christian on the chest as he let out a small laugh and shrugged his shoulders. With how close they seemed, Max began to question if he was her ex-boyfriend. Maybe something more. They seemed too close to be just friends, but it could have been his mind playing with him. “I need you to help me with something. I have something that I ordered down the street and I need some help carrying it back here. Think you can do that for me?”

“Absolutely,” Christian followed her out of the apartment and Max quickly got up form where he was outside and moved back inside of the apartment. Pacing back and forth, he could feel his mind wandering and he wanted to know who this guy was. He seemed awfully chummy with her and he wanted to know immediately what he was to her. Though it was likely that he had to get out of there fast or he was going to be caught and that was the last thing that he needed. 

His jealous rage started to fill him as he began to leave and then Max heard the sound of something falling out of his pocket as he moved for the door. Looking down, he saw August’s pills that he had picked up earlier. Gulping down, he reached inside the bag and pulled out the medicine that they used to help August’s insomnia. It knocked August right out easily and he moved to the coffee that Y/N had left on the counter. Max wasn’t ready to leave. He wanted his alone time with Y/N and damn it, he was going to get it. Licking his lips uneasily, he popped off the lid of her coffee and pulled open one of the capsules to the pills that they used to calm and sedate his grandfather with. Dumping the contents into what was left of her coffee; Max reached for another pill and did the same. Waiting, he thought about what he was doing and felt his jaw clenching when he moved back for the fire escape. Sitting outside, he heard the sounds of Christian and Y/N returning. After hearing them chatting for a while, Max looked in closely to see Y/N drinking some of her coffee where had dumped the medicine.

Leaning back against the brick wall, he saw that the sun was starting to set and he could feel his body trembling as he waited. The sounds of the two laughing inside of her apartment irritated him. It had been longer than he had expected the medicine to take effect, but he still waited. 

“You okay?” Christian’s voice filled the air when Max heard something crash on the inside. Looking carefully, he could see Y/N holding her head and he smirked knowing that it was finally kicking in. “Something wrong?”

“Yeah, I just…I feel really tired,” she explained with an uneven breath and looked to the time. “I uh…I think I need to go to bed.”

“Alright, no problem,” Christian nodded helping her pick up the things that she had dropped. Christian moved in to kiss over her cheek and Max could feel his chest tightening as he watched the two of them together. Y/N hugged him close before following Christian to the door. Max watched closely and could see her almost collapse when she moved back to her bed.

Leaning back to the position that he was in, Max waited until it was almost dark. Looking over his shoulder, he could see that Y/N was in her bed sleeping and he thought things over for a moment. Waiting, he reached out to knock the potted plant over further. It shattered and when she didn’t react, he could tell that the medicine had done what it was needed for.

Moving back into the apartment, Max reached for one of the wooden chairs that she had at her kitchen table and pulled it up close to the bottom of her bed. Dropping down in it, he watched closely as she slept and he could feel a fire burning deep within his veins. He felt betrayed by what she had done in canceling with him to be with another man and he wasn’t quite sure how to handle it. Not only was it another man, but it was someone that she had clearly talked to about Max. Christian was an arrogant prick and it hurt even more to know that she would ditch him for a guy like that. 

Gulping down uneasily, he stood up from the chair and reached for the sheets that she had over her body. Pulling them roughly from over her, he stood back and looked her over. She was wearing a button down and was only in her panties from below. His jaw clenched as he sat on the edge of the bed and watched her let out a long breath and he paused. One of those pills knocked August out cold, there was no way that two would have her waking up anytime soon. Watching her for a moment longer, he waited to see if she moved again, but was relieved when she didn’t respond. 

The idea of her being with another man absolutely drove him mad. She belonged to him. She was his and she even agreed to it. So the fact that she would ditch him to be with that pretty boy absolutely broke him.

Reaching out, his hand ghosted over thigh taking the time to feel the warmth radiating from her body. What he would give to be able to be normal and to take her right now. Watching her carefully, he began to think of turning her down in the storage room of his building the other day and he suddenly regretted it. There were so many things that he would have done to her, so many things he was thinking about right now with her before him. With her unconscious, there would be no judging. There would be no harsh views or worries.

Lowering his touch, he slid his palm out in over her bare thigh sliding over the warm flesh carefully. When she didn’t respond, he raised his touch and caressed up higher toward her inner thigh. Her body was warm and he could feel his own flesh heating up upon contact with her thighs. He had never had her body this open to him or saw this much of her beautiful flesh. Drawing small circles over her skin, he took the time to get used to the warmth of her body against his fingertips. Everything about her was perfect and he wanted her so bad. 

Biting into his bottom lip, he led his touch further up between her thighs. His fingertips traced over the lines of her panties while her warmth etched over his fingers. The barriers of her panties were still between them, but as he touched her, he could feel his body trembling. He had wanted her so bad it hurt. The radiating warmth from her core made a warmth rush throughout his own body, effecting his own body in ways that he knew would lead to something bad. His body began to harden the longer he caressed over her and a wince escaped his lips at the pressure his pants were causing his body. 

A heavy exhale escaped her lips that sounded like she was waking up and Max quickly stumbled up from her bed and away from her, but realized it was just her body involuntarily reacting to his touch. She was still out cold and he tried to get his heart rate to calm down. Moving back to the bed, he snapped his fingers to check her alertness and when nothing happened he let out a calming breath. 

Taking another long look over her, Max moved forward and his hands reached up to the top button of her shirt, pulling it apart. Doing the same with the next button, he watched as her skin became partially revealed to him. Gulping down heavily, he leaned forward to press his lips over her collarbone, taking the time to trace over her warm flesh. His tongue flicked small lines over her skin before sucking slightly over her skin. Tipping back, he slid his palm from her shoulder to the swell of her breast that was still covered with her night shirt. Cupping it softly, Max felt a trembling exhale escape his lips and bit back the groan that built in the back of his throat. He knew that touching her like this without her consent wasn’t right, but he couldn’t seem to help himself as he slid his thumb in over the swell of her nipple through the material of the shirt.

A sigh seemed to escape her parted lips as her body involuntarily arched up into his touch while he circled his thumb over her hardening nipple through the material. Licking his lips, he enjoyed the sounds she made probably a little too much as he moved in closer to her on the bed. Tipping forward, he teased his tongue in over her lips before sliding it in over her bottom lip. He dragged it slowly over her flesh before leaning back to stare her over carefully. 

Reaching up, he cupped her face in his hands softly before tipping in to press a soft kiss against her lips, his body starting to tense when he thought about how much he cared for this girl. Pulling back slightly, he looked her over and could feel his jaw clenching when he looked down at her. His hand reached out to hers, gripping it in his tightly. Squeezing his fingers around hers, he thought about all the promises she had given him and he found himself wanting to be desperate to believe them, but after today, he wasn’t exactly sure that was the case.

Pulling his hand away, he reached up to caress over his rough beard thinking about the way to move forward with the situation. His chest rose and fell heavily as he heard the sound of an alert on her phone. Looking to the phone lighting up, he saw that he lock screen was a photo of him and he gulped down uneasily. Suddenly feeling very guilty, he reached for her body to set her up more comfortably in the center of the bed. Sighing heavily, he brushed her hair out of face and took the time to trace over her beautiful features. Grabbing her in his arms softly, he pulled her up to him and held her close. Her body was limp in his, but he didn’t care. He wanted to hold her, if just for a little while. This was him resorting back to his old ways and he tried to promise himself that he wouldn’t do this. Not with her. Rocking her in his arms slightly, he pressed another soft kiss against the side of her neck before allowing her body to lower back down onto the bed. She was still heavily asleep and Max felt relieved.

Pulling the sheets back over her body, he made sure that he tucked her in well enough before sitting back down on the chair that he placed at the bottom of the bed. He needed to give her the benefit of the doubt and he knew that. Just automatically assuming things with her was wrong of him to do and he shouldn’t have even been here in the first place.

Leaning back in the chair, he found himself just watching her while she slept. Hours passed and when he noticed that she started to move around, he put the chair back and left the apartment. He propped the door to her building open and went to go get coffee for them before returning back to her apartment. Knocking on the door a few times, he could hear nothing on the other side at first before hearing the sound of stumbling in the apartment. Waiting for the door, he saw Y/N pull it open and he flashed a bright smile.

“Good morning sleepy head,” Max breathed, holding up a coffee for her and he could see her tired eyes looking him over uneasily. “There was someone leaving as I got here and I just decided to come up and surprise you. You look whipped.”

“Come in,” she motioned him to follow her in and he saw her look down to see that she was still only in her pajama shirt. Moving toward the bedroom area, he watched her grab some pants to pull them on and he waited in the kitchen. “I don’t know what the hell happened. Yesterday I was fine, but then…I just felt like collapsing and I needed to go to bed immediately.”

“Well we all get tired, right?” Max felt her moving in to tip up to press a kiss over the center of his lips before he handed her the coffee that he had gotten her. He watched her closely as she moved over toward the couch to sit. “So what happened yesterday? Why’d you need to cancel?”

“For a very…very stupid reason,” she groaned dropping her head back and his eyebrow arched up while he watched her carefully. “I had a friend that was freaking out and she needed help with something. It was an emergency apparently and it was a very…dramatic day.”

“How so?” Max moved across the room and sat down on the couch next to her. He felt her moving in closer to him and he could feel her cuddling in closer to him. When she didn’t answer, he felt he had to repeat the question because he wanted to know. No, he needed to know. “Hey?”

“Hmmm?” her head was resting over the center of his chest and he could see that she was falling asleep again.

“Y/N?” he nudged her slightly and she opened her eyes to look up at him as he shrugged his shoulders. “Is there someone else in your life, other than me? Are you second guessing things between the two of us?”

“Why the hell would I do that?” she yawned with a laugh and he felt her head resting in over the center of his chest. He could hear her heavy breaths alerting him that she was starting to fall asleep again. Reaching for her coffee, he grabbed it from her hands and set it down on the coffee table before she could drop it. “You are perfect…”

And with that she fell asleep on his chest making him let out a tight breath. Watching her closely, he hooked his arm around her shoulders and rested his head back against the couch. If she was drugged and really tired, it would have been hard to lie to him. Right?

Looking at the time, he knew that it was still early and he hadn’t slept all night, so he was going to take advantage of the moment. Setting his coffee next to hers, he took a minute to look her over sleeping on his chest. A smirk pressed in over the corners of his lips before pulling his body back further on the couch. Getting more comfortable, he tried to position them better before resting his head back when he felt her getting more comfortable over him. For right now, he was just going to have to trust her words and that’s all he could do.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max goes to a party with the OC and she tries to do something to help him relax.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long chapter, where only certain parts are kind of important. Thanks to everyone that keeps up with this story :)

Pacing back and forth in his bedroom, Max let out a frustrated breath and tried to think back to where he placed the thing he had bought earlier. Stepping forward, his hands pressed in over his dresser, taking a moment to look himself over in the mirror that was before him. Tonight Y/N had invited him to a birthday party that one of her friends was having on a boat. While the idea of being stuck in the middle of the Hudson River on a boat with a ton of strangers actually terrified him, the fact that he knew Y/N would be there certainly helped. Pushing his hands into his hair, he tried to slick it back and let out a tense breath.

He looked ridiculous in a suit, hell; he was never one for a suit. He liked lounging around in his comfortable clothes, but when she told him it was a party where people were going to be dressed up, he wanted to impress her. He put on his nicest pair of black slacks, a crisp white button down shirt and a nice suit jacket. If anyone who actually knew him saw him in this, they would likely be surprised. Hell, he was surprised with himself. He trimmed his beard and slicked his hair back to try and look better for her friends. He wanted to make a good impression for her and that’s all he was out to do. If her friends liked him, then maybe it would look better to her.

Hearing the soft knocking sounds on his door, he moved to the front door and opened it to see Y/N standing before him in a tight fitting black dress. He let out a long breath, looking her over to see the short skirt that went along with the dress and it made him clear his throat uneasily. It clung tightly to her hips and he realized he was gawking before looking up to her again with a nervous smile.

“Very nice,” she breathed reaching out to grab a hold of the sides of his suit jacket, eyeing him over with a bright smile. “You look absolutely fantastic. Wow Max, you clean up very well.”

“Yeah? Come in here for a minute,” Max urged her to follow him toward his bedroom. His hands held onto hers for a moment and he led her to sit on the edge of his bed. Her bright eyes looked up at him and she smiled when he paced around the room a bit. “I got you something.”

“Oh yeah?” she breathed with a smile as he pushed around some of the bags in his room and pulled a box from one of the bags that he had. When he slowly handed it to her, he seemed nervous and when saw it, she let out a tight breath. “What is this Max?”

“I just thought maybe you’d like one that was a little bit more…I don’t know. I went to the store and the guy there told me this was the best one on the market and I just thought, you’d want it,” Max saw her looking over the box of the professional camera that he had bought for her earlier in the day. His cheeks blushed over as he sat down on the edge of the bed with her. He watched her eyeing over the box and he couldn’t quite read her emotions. “I bought it for you as somewhat of a thank you. I know you have the one you’ve got right now, but I thought that maybe you would want something a bit better.”

“Max, I can’t accept this,” she went to hand it back to him and he shook his head slowly, refusing to take it back. He seemed extremely uncomfortable as she shook her head. “Max, no. I can’t take this from you. It’s really nice that you bought it in the first place for me, but you don’t have to go buying things for me.”

“Well that’s what boyfriends do, right? They buy things for their girls?” Max muttered knowing that he definitely bought it for her since he was feeling nervous about the other night and how she had ditched him to be with the other man. He wanted to keep her interested in him and he knew that he couldn’t compete with that model looking fella. He wasn’t used to having a girlfriend, not for long anyways. He would always overwhelm them or they would often get pushed away by his attitude and uneasiness. “I wanted to get you something nice.”

“I’m not that kind of girl though Max,” she frowned, watching his smile fade and his beautiful dimples aided to the frown that pressed in over his lips. Reaching out with her right hand, she urged her hand over his jawline and caressed over it in a tender manner. He seemed extremely disappointed with her response and she sighed heavily. “I don’t want you to think that you have to buy me things to keep me around. I want to be around because I like you, but not because you buy me things.”

“But I want to buy you things,” Max rubbed at the back of his neck uneasily. He thought she would enjoy the gift, not refuse to take it. He really thought out what he wanted to get her and he thought getting her the camera would be the number one sure shot of her not wanting to let him go. “I want you to feel special.”

“I feel special each and every time you look at me. Every time that you kiss me or hold my hand, that makes me feel special,” she informed him, moving across the bed to press a small kiss over his lips. Her mouth lingered over his for a moment, hearing the heavy breath that escaped his lips when she pulled away. “How about this…you keep the camera for yourself. I will teach you how to use it and maybe you can start taking photos with me? It really makes you feel better and it’s fun. It’s nice to capture beautiful moments. Maybe after a while, I can play with the camera, but you have to promise to try and use it first.”

“Oh, I don’t have that kind of talent,” Max watched her closely as she handed him back the camera box and he looked down at it. A sigh escaped his lips as he nodded when he saw her watching him expectantly. “Alright, but you are going to have to teach me because I don’t learn these things easily.”

“I will…it can be something that we can share together. A passion for photography,” she wrapped her hand carefully around the back of his neck, to pull him in closer for another kiss and he smiled against her lips. A laugh escaped her lips when he pulled away and the top of his nose wrinkled. “What?”

“I just know I look ridiculous,” Max stood up to put the camera back where he had it and he reached out to help her up from the bed. Instead of focusing on the disappointment of her not wanting the camera, he decided to change the subject. Maybe she was right and them sharing a hobby together would be nice, but it still didn’t stop the disappointment of her denying the gift. “I’m not very outgoing and you are so outgoing. I just think your friends are probably going to meet me and think I’m a shithead or that I don’t want to be there.”

“You don’t want to be there,” she reminded him with a laugh and he thought about it for a moment before nodding. Her arms reached up to loosely wrap around his shoulders and he pulled her in closer to him. “Don’t worry about them. The only person that you should worry about is me and you are going for me. I happen to think you look super handsome and I’m very excited that you are joining me tonight.”

“Yeah?” Max smirk feeling her fingertips pushing into his slicked back hair and he sighed heavily. “Well, anything to make you happy.”

\------

Huffing heavily, Max held the neck of the beer bottle he had tightly and looked over his shoulder to see Y/N talking with some of her friends. They were laughing and talking quite heavily while he stood at the corner table at the bar on the boat. Everyone around him seemed to be talking and having fun, but this just wasn’t his scene. Part of him just wished this night would go on faster and he knew that was very unlikely to happen. It seemed like tonight was just dragging on and while he enjoyed the moments he was spending with Y/N, a lot of her friends seemed to be pulling her away.

When he first met her she didn’t seem to have many friends in New York, but now it seemed like she had a good handful of them. Maybe it was from all the jobs that she had done or just the fact of how damn friendly she was. Either way, he just didn’t fit in with these people and he knew that. Looking to his watch, he looked at the time and let out a heavy sigh when he knew the party still had a while to go.

Hearing the knocking of sound of something, he looked up from the table to see a younger man standing at the table with him. The man had a glass in hand and Max almost dreaded whatever this guy wanted to talk about. The younger man’s eyebrows were perked up and he just looked like a dick.

“So tell me buddy, how did someone like you land a piece of ass like that?” the younger man muttered with a half laugh, looking back over his shoulder at his friends who were staring out at the two of them. Max looked to Y/N who had met his eyes and he knew that he must have looked angry. The very words from the arrogant shit caused his skin to crawl as he took another sip of his beer uncomfortably. Max was trying to keep his anger in check, but he could feel his hand shaking as he tried to focus. “I’ve been watching her all night and with her attitude, she seems like the kind of girl that’s hard to tame. She introduced you as her boyfriend, so I was just wondering what it was that landed you that gorgeous girl.”

“I beg your pardon?” Max bit into his bottom lip and let out an angered breath. This kid couldn’t be that arrogant, could he?

“Oh, it’s nothing against you man. I just…I mean look at her,” the younger man nodded toward Y/N and Max could feel his body tensing up. “She’s a sexy little thing and…”

“That’s my girlfriend you are talking about,” Max could feel his anger rising as he set the beer down on the table and straightened up from the leaning position that he was in. Stepping in closer to the younger man, Max could feel the lump in his throat growing as the brow line of the younger man creased. “I don’t really like you talking about my girl like that.”

“I’m just saying man; she doesn’t seem like a one man kind of guy and…” Max reached out to grab a hold of the man’s jacket. Before he could react, Max felt the delicate touch of a hand over his and he looked to see Y/N beside him. Max released the younger man and he heard the other guy let out an agitated sound.

“Jesus man, you need to learn to chill,” the guy blurted out before walking off and Max’s eyes never seemed to leave the other man. Y/N reached out to cup his face in hers and Max finally pulled his eyes away, giving her an angered expression.

“Hey, what’s going on?” she spoke to him in a comforting tone as Max shrugged his shoulders and pulled open the button of his suit jacket. “Max?”

“He was just an arrogant little shit,” Max reached out for his beer and knew that he wanted to beat the life out of that guy just for talking about Y/N the way he did. Max promised to himself that he’d try and hide his aggressive side around Y/N and he wasn’t about to attack the kid when she was there to see it. It didn’t mean that he wasn’t thinking about it though. “I’m sorry; I just let him get the better of me.”

“It’s okay,” she hushed him, reaching out to caress over his length of his shoulders and she could see that his dimples were sucked in when he looked to the guys that were snickering around the bar. “They are just arrogant idiots. Don’t let them bother you.”

“That’s the thing, I let everything bother me,” Max slurred, looking at her with an upset expression. It was something that she seemed to care about, but he could see out of the corner of his eye that her friends were making their way over to the table and he had to put on a fake smile for them. “This sure is a beautiful party going on here, don’t you ladies think?”

“Says the beautiful man,” a red head muttered, making Max smirk before nodding and looking down toward his beer. “Are you enjoying yourself here Max?”

“Oh yeah, very much,” he lied and heard Y/N let out a small laugh before reaching up to cover her mouth with his sarcastic answer that only she would know was a lie. “I travel on boats a lot so this…this is a lot of fun for me.”

“Oh yeah? What is it you do?” Max watched the red head stare out at him with her green eyes and he laughed. The only thing he could think of was sarcastic answers and he truthfully didn’t want to give her a real answer at all. 

“Oh, I don’t work. I just ride on yachts all the time because I had rich parents,” Max felt Y/N playfully hit him in the stomach and he could tell that the girls actually believed him. Reaching up to take a sip of the beer he had, he shrugged his shoulders and sighed. “No, that’s a lie. I’m sorry. I’m actually an art dealer. That’s how Y/N and I met. We met at an art showing. Her photographs were there and I really liked them, thought it’d be great to date the artist because I enjoyed her eye.”

“Seriously?” one of the other woman spoke up and Max looked to Y/N seeing the glare that she was giving him. It was a confused look and Max shrugged his shoulders before taking another sip of his drink.

“Could you excuse us for a moment?” Y/N pulled him from the crowd and Max could feel her pulling him down the stairs to the lower deck of the boat. No one seemed to be down there as he felt her reaching up to caress over his stubble covered jawline. “What’s up with you right now? You aren’t usually one for sarcasm.”

“I just don’t fit in here. You really want your friends to know that I’m a guy who owns an old apartment building that has leaky pipes? A guy that has money, but only because his father was a fucking psychopath and shot his mother so he had money because of it? I’m pretty sure that would be the talk of the night. I’m not one of these rich kids that just got to do whatever the fuck I wanted,” Max could feel his cheeks warming over and he shook his head. He felt like he was an embarrassment to her and when she gave him a glare, he tossed his hands up in defense. “I’m just not an impressive person to have at your side; you should have brought someone else with you tonight. A model type or something…”

“What?” she laughed pulling him back to her when he started walking away. He was clearly making a dig at her with Christian, but he knew that she wouldn’t understand it. “Listen to me, you are the only person on this damn boat that I care about impressing and I like you. Just as you are. I don’t give a flying fuck what any of these people think. I like you for what you are and I wouldn’t want you any differently. You look amazing tonight, but I still would love you dressed in your work pants and paint covered t-shirt. I like you...just as you are.”

“I know you’d prefer a boyfriend with a ripped body. My body isn’t bad, but I’m still not…” Max looked over himself and let out an uncomfortable breath. He looked down and tugged at his jacket knowing that he didn’t have what most people these days would consider a good body. “I’m not gorgeous. I’m not like the model looking guys on this boat. “

“I like your body,” she informed him with a heavy breath and he gave her a sideways expression. Her hands reached out to press in over the planes of his abdomen and he huffed heavily. “I think you look great. From what I’ve seen, you have a beautiful body. You’re lean, you have strong arms, your dimples are fucking gorgeous and you had a very nice, small bottom. Your tattoos are hot as hell and…”

“You say that, but…” Max felt her pulling him into the room at the end of the hallway. Taking a look around, he saw the setup of what seemed to be an entertainment room. Breathing heavily, he watched her lock the door behind her and she reached for his beer that was still in his hand. She set it down on the table beside her and he looked around the room. “I’m not a good boyfriend to have. I have mental issues…I fucking hurt myself…”

“Please stop attacking my boyfriend,” she insisted with a heavy sigh reaching up to grab his bandage covered hand. She lowered it down and then reached up with her hands to caress over the sides of his face. “I know you don’t think much of him, but I really fucking like him and don’t like hearing you talk about him like that.”

“Y/N…” he sighed, feeling her tipping up to roughly press her lips over his. A groan escaped his lips when he felt her lips suctioning over his, kissing him over and over again. A grunt escaped his throat when he felt her kiss growing in power before she bit into his bottom lip. Pulling away, he could see that her eyes had grown heavy with lust and he could feel a rush filling his veins. “We shouldn’t be in here like this.”

“The person I’m actually friends with on this boat doesn’t care what the hell I do. We’ve been friends for a long time, so I can do what I please,” she informed him with a bright smile, reaching out to push the dark jacket over his shoulders. It fell to the ground and he breathed out heavily when he felt her lips pressing in over the side of his neck eagerly. Her kisses were warm and wet, focusing on his sensitive flesh when he gripped at her hips tightly. “After this, I’m going to actually introduce you to her because you might actually like her. She was the person that I had to go to the other day when I canceled with you. She was freaking about this stupid party and…”

“Yeah?” he let out a heavy hiss when he felt her biting into his flesh and he pulled her desperately against him, hearing the whimper that escaped her lips when he did it. Her hands caressed over the center of his chest before lowering down his body until he felt her reaching around to palm over his bottom. Her hand squeezed at it and he let out a shuddering breath. “You don’t want to do this…not now, not here.”

“Max…I very much want to do this,” she pushed at the center of his chest. He stumbled back slightly and he watched her move toward him again. He could hear the sound of the party upstairs still and knew that it wasn’t the best idea to be acting like this at a party with a bunch of people above them. “I wish you would realize just exactly what you do to me.”

Gasping, Max fell back into the leather couch that was at the edge of the room after she pushed him again and he watched her standing before him. His breathing increased as he watched her and he could see her eyeing him over heavily. She was thinking things out inside of her mind and Max knew that what she was doing turned him on so much, but didn’t know if this was what she really wanted.

“I think it’s time you actually let me show you just how much I care for you,” she lowered down to her knees and he could feel his heart hammering inside of his chest as he watched her crawling in closer to him. Her hands clutched at his knees and caressed over them making him let out a heavy exhale.

“I don’t think this is a good idea. First with the party and second with me…I’m…” Max muttered watching her sliding between his legs and he gulped down uneasily. Her palms grabbed a tight hold of his knees, nudging them apart. Her touch alone sent a jolt of warmth throughout his entire body and his eyes grew heavy as he watched her seductively crawling in closer to him. Her eyes never left his and he could feel his body easily and readily doing as she wanted. A chill ran down his spine when he felt the warmth of her body pressing in closer to his. “I’ve warned you…”

“I know,” she hushed him, seeing his hazel eyes watching her closely as she reached up for the buttons in his crisp, white button down shirt. His breathing grew rapid and she could feel his chest rising and falling heavily beneath her touch. When she pulled the shirt apart, he inhaled heavily and she could feel his body slightly tremble at her closeness. Reaching out, her hands caressed slowly over the center of his abdomen, tracing teasing lines over his skin. She tested the lengths of what he would allow before sliding her hands further up to his hairy chest.

There was a fire burning deep within him and he wanted to urge her and guide her to the areas that he knew she was heading to, but he was almost afraid to touch her after everything he had done. There was so much he had already done wrong in this relationship and he was afraid to show her his aggressive side. Her fingers twisted around the thick hair on his chest and he could feel his body reacting to her instinctively. He arched in closer to her and could feel a lump growing inside of his throat. Her touch alone sent him through so many emotions and the fact that her warm breath pressed so closely to his body drove him wild with desire.

“I’ve heard your warnings,” she spoke up in a whisper and he could see her licking over her bottom lip. His jaw clenched when he heard her speaking to him in such a fashion. “You get obsessed, but I don’t care…I’m already obsessed with you. So it doesn’t scare me…”

“It should,” he breathed in harshly as he felt her lips pressing in over the center of his chest. She teased the wet flesh over his skin partially, taking time to layer kisses in over certain areas of his chest.

His chest was rising and falling heavily while her hands continued to caress over his torso as she kissed over his heated flesh. An involuntary groan escaped his throat as he watched her kisses getting more intense. The dampness of her mouth trailed over his skin and he could see her moving in closer to him. Her tongue teased out in over the sensitive skin of his nipple and he hissed out at the sensation it caused deep within him. Her left hand lowered to brace herself against him, grabbing a tight hold of his inner thigh and he arched up toward her when he felt her squeezing embrace.

Sliding down further on the couch to give her better access to his body, he could feel himself falling into this more than he expected and everything seemed to start to fade away. It was just the two of them right now and he could easily find himself falling deep into this. A moan escaped his lips when he felt her teeth biting into his nipple before tugging on it slightly. He reached up to carefully brush her hair away from her face when he watched her lift her head up to meet his eyes in a long glance. She bit into her bottom lip before moving to his other nipple to tease him in the same manner and he felt his head falling back against the couch. He didn’t hate her doting on him; his body was quite enjoying it more than he knew he should have been. His palm reached around to slide in over the center of her shoulders and he knew that he should have kept his hands at his side, but he couldn’t help himself. He was afraid of tarnishing things with her, but this time it was her so desperately throwing herself at him. It wasn’t the other way around like he had done with previous woman. Yes, he was terrified of things going wrong between the two of them, but with her mouth teasing and torturing him with her perfect caress—he didn’t seem to care about that right now.

Sure, the fear of what he had done the other night had consumed him the last few days. When he had found out about her ditching him to be with Christian, he could have easily done things while she was sleeping. He wanted to do those things and he was disgusted with himself. That was who he was and she didn’t know that about him. She deserved to know what he had done, but he was too afraid to tell her and that’s what would honestly worry him about this whole thing. His body was desperate to have her continue, but his mind was still cautious the more he thought about things.

“If you keep this up, I’m going to get really…attached to you and I might do things,” Max urged his hand in over the side of her face to try and urge her attention to him. A smile pressed in over her lips as she turned into his caress and kissed over the center of his palm. A harsh breath caught in his throat and he could feel his body shaking upon her contact. “I’m trying to warn you.”

“Max, stop worrying for once and just be quiet,” she hummed against his palm before looking up at him with her gorgeous eyes. She tipped up to press a kiss over his lips, her tongue pressing in against his and he mimicked the motions of her tongue against his. His hand grabbed a possessive hold of her jaw when he deepened the kiss. Her breathing had grown heavy and desperate as he sucked carefully over her bottom lip. Her hands had begun caressing over his abdomen again and he let out a harsh breath. Realizing the grab he hand on her, he loosened it and knew that he could be rough with things and that’s not what he wanted to introduce her with this moment. She had managed to silence him for the time being and he could see the pure sexual desire that she had for him as she caressed over the lines of his lean torso. His body was shaking and he tried to hide it, but there wasn’t much she didn’t catch on with when it came to him. Her hand reached up and snaked around the back of his neck before sinking into his hair. She tugged him down in closer to her and he could feel her tongue tracing a line over his bottom lip and he instinctively sucked over the tip of her tongue before pulling her in closer to him. “I really care about you Max and I want to make you feel good.”

Saying nothing, he nodded and watched her lower her kisses down his chest, over the planes of his abdomen and toward the top of his pants. Her lips pressed delicate kisses over his abdomen before flicking out over his navel making him let out a deep groan.

“Before you do anything else,” his tried to urge her attention to him again one more time, but he found himself pausing when he saw her eyes meet his while she continued to kiss over his stomach. “There is something you need to know. Something I did…”

“Sh…” she silenced him with a wide smile, reaching up to cover his lips with her fingertips. Feeling his body reacting to hers involuntarily, his lips parted and his tongue flicked out over her fingers. Her eyes perked up as he took her index finger between his lips, sucking over it softly, nipping over the flesh as he continued. When he started to suck over her fingers, he could hear a small moan escape her lips. “You dirty boy…”

A smirk pressed in over his handsome features as he twisted his tongue around her fingers only to feel her pulling them from his lips. She was quick to replace her fingers with her mouth as she kissed him over and over again clearly enjoying what he had just done. A moan escaped her lips when she felt him grabbing a tight hold of her jaw and squeezed it tight. She motioned him to stop and he could feel his body relaxing further into the couch.

A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he felt her hands reaching for the center of his pants, reaching out the center of his masculinity and he groaned. Arching his hips up toward her caress, he could see her trying to read his reactions closely while his chest rose and fell heavily. His head tipped back and a moan escaped his lips when he felt her squeezing and palming over his hardening body. When it seemed like he was comfortable with what was going on, she hastily reached up to pull apart his belt.

“Someone is a big boy, isn’t he?” she purred reaching up for the buttons in his black slacks, quickly pulling it open before pulling the zipper down with her shaking fingers. Her tongue slid in over her bottom lip as she urged him to lift his hips up and help her pull the material of his pants down his legs. When she got them off, she tossed them aside and moved in closer to the center of his lap. Her head lowered and her lips began to press small kisses over his inner thigh making a hiss escape his lips. He tried to keep his hands to himself, not wanting to be too aggressive with her as he felt her kisses continue to kiss up higher on his body. When she reached for the hem of his boxers, he raised his hips up to help aid her in pulling them down. When his slightly hardened form was revealed to her sight, he could see her smile and bite into her bottom lip. “You are crazy for thinking that your body isn’t perfect.” 

“Y/N,” he saw her eyes eating him alive and he knew that he should have told her the things that he had done, but he went silent when he felt her hand wrapping around his length. The sensation of her smooth palm grasping him caused his hips to arch up into her caress and he could see that her focus was completely on one thing right now. When her head lowered towards his lap and he could feel her warm breath etching over his body, he felt himself tremble at the very presence of that warmth. In a matter of seconds, he could feel her lips wrapping around the tip of his body and his groan soon followed. The pumping sensation of her hand over his shaft was followed by the glorious sensation of her warm mouth over him and he released another stifled groan. He found it hard to take his eyes off of her as she continued to suck over his body that was getting stiffer inside of her mouth. “God…”

“You taste so good,” she whispered, pulling her mouth away from his body long enough to watch him drop his head back against the back of the couch. Taking the time to caress over his saliva covered length, she could feel his hips starting to pump into her hand and she knew that he was finally letting go of his worries. A proud smile pressed in over the corners of her lips when she finally got his body completely solid within her touch. A moment of adoration filled her body as she looked over his length and she couldn’t believe that he talked ill of himself. “You are so big…”

“Please…” he begged her with a quiet breath, lifting his head up to look at her with his beautiful hazel eyes. It almost seemed like she was amused with him when he looked down at her to beg, but he didn’t care. “Don’t stop…”

A wide grin pressed in over her lips as she grabbed a firm hold of the base of his erection and leaned forward to trace her tongue over the underside of his shaft. Teasing and flicking her tongue over the pulsating veins in his body. His moan filled the air as she continued to press hot, wet kisses over his body. It had been so long since a woman had doted on his every need, but she was so desperate to do that very thing and it felt amazing.

“Your cock is beautiful,” she informed him with a sultry tone as her palm started to pull up over his flesh before pulling down again. Tipping her head down, she wrapped her lips around the tip of his body again slowly lowering her head down his length before pulling back slowly.

The suction of her mouth over him felt incredible and it was already starting to drive him crazy. With her doting on him, he absolutely had to watch her pleasure him. This was a sight he didn’t want to forget. He watched her closely as her cheeks caved in with each agonizingly suction motion she made over him. Clutching his hands at his side, he could feel her grip tightening around him and his jaw dropped. The fact that there was a party above them caused him to try and stifle his sounds of pleasure, but the occasional moan did escape his lips.

“Damn it…,” he breathed out knowing that he desperately wanted to touch her, to aid in the motion of her movements over him, but he was still nervous to. He didn’t want to spoil the moment or make things rotten between them. There was still that part of him knew that everything he touched went to shit and he didn’t want her to be one of those things.

“Do you want me to stop?” she pulled away from his body and he stared out at her with a frown. She was teasing him and he knew it. Playing her game, he shook his head and knew that she already knew the answer, but the smile that expanded over her lips caused him to smile as well. He gulped down heavily as he watched her lean forward to slide her tongue over the tip of his body, teasing the slit with her talented tongue. She kissed down his length and he found himself finally reaching out to nudge her head back up toward his pulsating length. “Do you want to cum?”

“Please,” he begged with a nod and he could see her smile getting bigger. His begs clearly gave her enjoyment as he watched her lower her head back down to wrap her lips around his body again. A loud moan escaped his throat when he felt her taking him as far back in her throat as it could before pulling back to the head of his cock. She repeated the movement over and over again and he started to rock his hips into the motions of her mouth over him.

“God, that feels so good,” Max bit into his lip and he cautiously reached out to brush her hair out of her eyes to watch her closely while she pleasured him. “You are so beautiful.”

His chest tightened as he felt his pulse quickening inside of his body. There was a twitching felt in his thighs and he could tell that she was sensing his release because the strength of her motions seemed to get stronger. The muscles in his stomach start to clench and he could feel her palming over his length faster.

“I’m going to…” he caressed his thumb in over the side of her face, seeing her glance meeting his as he felt his jaw clenching. Her head bobbed quicker over his length and her hand followed the same pace while caressing over the shaft of his body. Shooting his hips up, he could feel the twitching motion of his cock inside of her throat as he moaned out heavily.

Involuntary convulsions filled his body when his seed shot out from his body and into her throat. She continued to suck down over his body and he clutched tightly at her shoulder while she pleasured him. His abdomen was contracting and relaxing over again while she took down every last drop of him before finally releasing her lips from his body with a loud popping noise.

“Mmm, you taste better than I could have ever imagined,” she purred, kissing over his hair dusted thigh before pushing the material of his boxers back over his hips and caressing over his abdomen softly. “I told you everything would be okay…” 

“Shit…” Max breathed feeling his body still tingling from his release as he felt her moving carefully in over his lap. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders loosely and he could feel his heart pounding inside of his chest. His body was in somewhat of a state of shock from his release as he reached up to squeeze his hands in over her hips. A smirk pressed in over her lips as he tipped up to kiss her. She teased him with the idea of it and pulled away before allowing him to steal the kiss from her lips. His tongue flicked against hers and he could taste himself against her mouth. “That was amazing…”

The loud sound of a crash happening above caused them both to jump and it followed with her getting up from his lap. A frown pressed in over his lips as he watched her reaching for his pants and jacket. His legs were shaky as he slowly stood up from the couch and felt her handing him his clothes.

“Wait,” Max set his clothes on the bar that was in the room as he stood before her in his opened, button down shirt and boxers. He watched her go to move for the door and he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back against him. His mouth pressed in over her bare shoulder and he reached down to press his hand in over her smooth thigh. “What about you?”

“This wasn’t about me,” she answered and he could feel her grabbing a hold of his hand to pull it away from her. He gulped down uneasily as he felt her turning in his arms and she traced her finger down the front of his sweaty chest. “Now come on. Get your clothes on because I’m sure we are going to be docking soon and there are some people I want you to meet.”

Nodding, he began to pull his pants back over his body and began to buckle them together as he watched her unlock the door. She checked to make sure that they were still safe while he started to button his shirt back together. When he got the material together, he followed her out of the room and toward the hallway.

“I’ll meet you up there, okay? I need to do something,” Max informed her seeing her nod and she tipped up to kiss him one final time before Max watched her walk up the stairs toward the party. Exhaling heavily, he moved for the bathroom that he had seen and stepped inside. Never in his wildest dreams did he ever think that what happened tonight would actually happen. It was perfect and he couldn’t think of a better night that he had in so long. For once looking in the mirror, he actually found himself happy and that was rare.

Moving out of the bathroom and toward the stairs, he made his way up and tried to pull on his jacket as he moved toward the party. He could see that boat was about to dock and he knew that he had to find her before people started to get off the boat. Looking around the party, he finally stopped when he saw Y/N standing with a group of a few people. Smiling, he went to move forward toward the group until he saw a familiar face.

“Son of a bitch,” Max saw Y/N laughing with Christian and he could see Christian’s hands cupping her face in his hands while they laughed together. His heart started hammering in his chest as he watched Christian’s arm wrapping around her shoulders and he found himself completely jealous. There was a rage filling him when he watched them continue to laugh together and he couldn’t believe that Christian was at the very party that she had brought him to tonight.

Stepping back, he knew that he wanted to fucking kill that guy. For the other night and for simply just touching Y/N right now. He clenched his fists at his sides when he felt people moving off the boat and Max looked to Y/N again. Instead of following through with his original intentions, Max followed the group of people off the boat and he stood at the dock, waiting. Part of him wanted to go back, but the other part of him didn’t. He was pissed, irritated and angry.

Stepping back on the deck, Max thought about heading back home and leaving her on the boat, but he didn’t exactly want her to feel like he ditched her after everything that happened tonight. Huffing out heavily, he looked to see there was a bench at the end of the dock and he went to go and sit down on it. He knew that the right thing to have done was to go back on the boat and approach the situation, but he didn’t want to. If he approached the subject of Christian, he would have to mention what happened the other day and he wasn’t ready for that. So instead, he just sat there waiting.

People continued to filter out and eventually he could see Y/N moving off the boat and when she saw him sitting there, he could see a look of relief over her features. When his eyes met hers, he looked down and clasped his hands together. There was not a single idea in his head as to what he would say to lie to her. He hated lying to her, but this was a situation where he needed to.

“There you are, I got worried,” he heard her move in before him and he felt her moving in to sit next to him on the bench. The warming sensation of her hands wrapping around his caused him to let out a tight breath and look at her with a frown. “I looked everywhere for you, you alright?”

“Yeah, I think I just got a really bad case of vertigo when the boat started docking,” Max answered in the best lie he could think of and he let out a long shallow breath, his chest aching when he looked to her. “I’m sorry, I know there were people that you wanted me to meet, but I just felt sick. I’m sorry.”

“No, it is okay,” she hushed him, reaching out to press her hands into his hair and she leaned in to press a kiss against the center of his lips. “They can meet you a different time. Just tell me next time before you run off. I got worried.”

“I’m sorry,” Max muttered with a half-smile and he felt her softly caressing over the back of his neck.

“You want to go home?” she helped him up from the bench, clearly believing the lie that he fed her and he nodded. She kept her body close to his and when they reached the street, she reached out to palm in over the side of his face. “You want to go back to your place or do you want to stay at my place tonight?”

Max thought about how angry he had been and knew that it was probably better to have some time away from her. To think out things and process them in his mind, but he hated the idea of being away from her.

“Is your place okay?” he muttered and he saw her nod before waving down a cab. The walk wouldn’t have been terrible for them, but clearly the thought of his vertigo was on her mind.

They had been quiet most of the way home and up to her apartment. When they got there, he pulled his suit jacket from his arms and watched her disappear into her bathroom. Soon enough, she returned in her pajamas and he headed over toward the couch where he would normally sleep when he spent the night.

“No, come here,” she urged him over toward her bed and he gave her a sideways glance when she pat the bed beside her. “I’m not going to jump your bones, but I think it’s okay if you laid in bed with me tonight.”

“You’d be alright with that?” Max muttered seeing her nodding and he carefully kicked off his shoes before moving to the side of her bed. The sensation of his heart hammering in his chest as he watched her lying down and getting comfortable before him was felt and he couldn’t help, but get excited at the idea of being able to spend the night in bed with her. Reaching up, he started to slowly pull apart the buttons of his white button down and pulled it from his body before setting it on her dresser. Crawling into the bed beside her, he carefully lowered down in next to her and could feel her warmth pressing in closer to him. “You sure about this?”

“Absolutely,” she breathed after he had gotten comfortable beside her and she could feel his arm cautiously wrapping around her as she laid in closer to him to rest her head against the inside of his chest. Her hands caressed in over the center of his chest and he leaned in to press a kiss against her temple. “Max, you aren’t upset about what happened earlier are you? I didn’t force you into something you didn’t want, did I?”

“Upset with you for that?” he let out a hesitant laugh and he watched her look up at him with her bright eyes. He shook his head and gulped down uneasily. “My mind is just getting the best of me lately. I don’t understand how someone like you would want to be with someone like me. So I’m finding myself a bit down and thinking things that…I don’t know. I feel like maybe you think you’ve made a mistake in wanting to be with me. Maybe there is someone from your past that you’d rather be with…”

“I don’t know what would make you think that?” she muttered with a confused expression and she leaned in to press a kiss over the center of his chest. “How about you let me decide who I should be with and I’ve already made my decision. I chose you. I choose you.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max and the OC share an intimate moment after a few tense moments happen between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is more smutty, not so much fluffy....

“You know, I almost feel like you should have better things to do instead of coming here every day to check on my hand,” Max muttered with a heavy sigh as he felt Y/N pulling apart the bandage over his hurt hand. “I mean, you do still have a job, right?”

“Hey, watch it smart ass,” she reached out to hit him in the shoulder, hearing his snort fill the air while he stood in the bathroom and allowed her to check on his stitches. “I do have a job, but you know how it is. A little bit of work here, editing and then no work for a while. The life of an artist sucks at times, but when you have a paycheck, it’s a nice one.”

“So I’m dating a bum,” Max teased with a wrinkle of his nose when he felt her reach out to hit him in the center of the chest playfully and he shook his head. “I’m just kidding. I do enjoy having you here helping me out and spending time with me. It’s nice to have an extra pair of hands around for when I’m working on the apartments. I’ve always been the type that has to get things done myself, so it’s nice to have someone else to count on.”

“Absolutely,” she muttered with a bright smile and leaned in when he smelled her perfume filling the air surrounding him. His eyes watched her closely as she covered his hand back up again with the wrap. “So what’s next?”

“I was thinking about that camera you’ve been trying to teach me about,” Max motioned her to follow him out of the bathroom and to his bedroom. He pulled out the camera that she had tried teaching him about over the last few days and he shook his head. “I’ve been reading the book and I swear I’m just going to break this damn thing.”

“I doubt that,” she sighed heavily, grabbing the camera from his hands and looked over the settings. She carefully handed it back to him and he looked up at her with expecting eyes. “You should take a photo of something. It’s the only way to learn.”

“Alright,” he smirked, raising the camera up and he could see her instantly putting her hand up to block him from taking a photo of her. “Oh, come on! You can take photos of me, but when I try to take a photo of you, I can’t?”

“I’m really not good in front of the camera, behind it…sure,” she began, lowering her hand and she heard the first snap of his camera and she sighed heavily. “I could have thought of better things to start you off with.”

“Na, that’s impossible. I have the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen standing right before me,” Max responded with a wink when he pulled the camera from his face before raising it back up to take a few more photos. A blush had pressed in over her cheeks and he could feel his heart quicken at the sight of the small smile that developed over her lips. “You’re gorgeous.”

“You’d probably get better lighting if we were outside,” she suggested and she reached her hand out to his, pulling him through the apartment. There was silence that filled the air and a smile pressed in over her lips. “No August today?”

“Oh, he’s…I don’t know. Out. Sometimes he has friends that he likes to see, but lately he hasn’t gone out much,” Max informed her as he followed her out into the hallway and could see her eyes looking back at him. “It’s nice not having him here for once. Shit, that sounds awful.”

“No, it doesn’t. You like peace and quiet, I don’t blame you,” she hushed him, reaching out to softly caress over the side of his face. Her fingers played with his stubble covered jawline and she winked out at him. “Why not move into your own apartment and let him have his own space? I mean, you do own the building.”

“I thought about it, I just…I don’t know. Felt guilty?” he shrugged and reached up with his free hand to rub at the back of his neck nervously. “I thought I should be there to take care of him. He’s family and…”

“You are such a good person,” she could see that he was having trouble thinking of a way to answer and she reached up to grab a tight hold of his shirt to carefully pull him forward into a small kiss. A deep breath escaped his lips as he moved forward to kiss her again when she went to pull away from him. Nothing felt better than having her kiss him. It was something that he could truly never get enough of. “You put others before your own needs and you shouldn’t have to do that.”

The sound of someone clearing their throat uneasily broke them away from their kiss as Max saw Juliet standing at the door to her apartment. Juliet looked uncomfortable seeing the two of them together kissing and Max let out a tense breath.

“Oh, hey…” Max could feel Y/N clench a bit at the sight of Juliet, but she pulled away and faked her brightest smile. Max reached up to brush his fingertips throughout his dark hair before stepping into the middle of the hallway. “It’s nice to see you Juliet. This is…this is my girlfriend Y/N.”

“Your girlfriend?” Juliet repeated his words and almost found herself at a loss. She seemed shocked seeing the way that Y/N stared out at her. Juliet’s words almost came out in a stutter as she looked down at the ground. “That’s wonderful, that’s great to hear.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Y/N finally spoke up, reaching her hand out to extend it out to Juliet. “You have a boyfriend, right?”

“Yeah, I do. Well, I think that’s what I’d consider him. Jack,” Juliet replied and Y/N took a step back to wrap her arm around Max’s abdomen, hooking tightly onto his body as Juliet still continued to stare out at them almost confused. “Well, it’s to see that you found someone Max. I’m happy for you…”

“Yeah,” Max nodded with a small smile and Juliet finished grabbing her things before moving into her apartment. Max could hear the displeased sound that escaped Y/N’s lips and he laughed. “What?”

“Did you see how jealous she got when you said I was your girlfriend? It was like she almost expected you to still be single so that way when asshole Jack fucked someone else again that she would…” she started venting only to feel Max’s hand pressing in over her lips to silence her with a laugh. He led her back into his apartment and she let out an angered breath when he pulled his hand from her lips. “I’m serious, it’s like she thought you would be there so she had a second option just in case. I don’t know why you covered my mouth.”

“We were right outside her door and she could have heard you,” Max reminded her with an amused expression and he shook his head, reaching out to slide his hands in over Y/N’s hips. “It doesn’t matter what she thinks Y/N because at the end of the day I have what I want right here in my hands.”

“Oh, that was smooth,” she sighed heavily, a smile cracking in over the corners of her lips and she reached up to wrap her arms around his shoulders loosely. “Nice save.”

“It’s only the truth,” Max winked, leaning down to press a soft kiss over her lips before adjusting the camera in his hands so he could hold her better. “I thought Juliet was perfect, until I was able to open my eyes and see that everything I’ve ever dreamt of having is you…”

“Jesus…” she grunted, pushing Max back toward his bedroom and he stumbled backwards. Max watched her pushing open the door and he let out a groan when he felt her pushing him up against his dresser. She grabbed the camera and set it down carefully before reaching out to caress her hands over the center of his chest. “Can you get any sexier?”

“Now I know you’re crazy…” Max slurred, not used to being showered with compliments like this all the time. Her mouth pressed roughly in over his to shut him up and he let out a tight groan when reached out to pull her closer to him. A heavy breath escaped his lips when he felt her tugging at his bottom lip with her teeth. “Is this the jealousy talking?”

“No, this is my attraction to you talking,” she muttered, her mouth pressing in over his jawline and a hiss escaped his lips when he felt her wet kisses continue over the side of his rough neck. “I don’t know how you don’t realize how gorgeous you are. I’m the one that is lucky…”

A gasp escaped her lips when Max shoved her forward, making her body slam against the wall and she let out a heavy breath. His mouth quickly pressed in over hers, his lips kissing her over and over again as she clutched at his thick hair. A growl escaped his lips as his mouth lowered down to press rough kisses over the side of her neck. His tongue flicked over her skin before he sucked and nipped gently at the base of her neck.

“Max,” she whimpered feeling him pulling his head back enough to look up at her with his hazel eyes when she felt his hand squeezing softly over the bottom of her throat and she moaned against the motions. “Kiss me.”

“Yes ma’am,” Max slurred tipping in to press his lips against her jawline and nip over it softly before meeting her lips in a heavy kiss. His tongue twisted with hers and he felt her body arch in closer to his the longer he kissed her. His hands clutched at her hips and he let out a hesitant breath. “Listen…”

“I want you so much,” she purred against his lips and he felt her mouth opening to his again, allowing him to flick his tongue against hers in a long sweep. A groan escaped his lips when he felt her hand reaching down to palm in over the center of his pants and he pulled away to look down at what she was doing. “I want you so bad.”

“We need to talk about something before we do anything…” Max rumbled, reaching for her wrist to pull her hand up and he could feel a fire burning deep within him. She deserved to know the things about him that he wanted to tell her nights ago, but as he watched her moving away from him—he went silent. Her hands reached for the bottom of her shirt and he gulped down heavily when she dropped the material to the ground. “Y/N…”

“Come here,” she curled her finger at him as she sat down on the edge of his bed. His chest was rising and falling heavily as he dragged his tongue out over his bottom lip. Nodding, he moved in closer to the bed and felt her hands reaching up to slowly pluck open the buttons of the shirt that he was wearing. When she got the material apart, her hands reached up to palm over his hairy chest to take in the planes of his body. She urged the material from his body and let it drop to the ground as he stood before her, quiet. “You are so sexy.”

“God…” he tipped his head back when he felt her lips caressing over his lower abdomen, just above his pant line. The warmth of her tongue drawing lines over his skin caused him to groan heavily as he reached down to wrap his fingers throughout her hair. Max tugged roughly on her hair and heard a whimper escape her lips as he shoved her down on top of the bed. Reaching out, his fingertips pulled apart her pants and quickly pulled them down her legs. Tossing the material aside, he crawled in over her slowly and could see the smile that pressed in over her beautiful features as he caged her beneath him. “You know I want you too…”

“Then what’s stopping you?” she purred feeling his fingertips grasping at her neck before tipping in to press her lips over his. He kissed her over and over again before his lips began to lower down her neck, toward her collarbone and toward her chest. Her body arched up to him, a whimper falling from her lips as he reached up to roughly grab a hold of her wrists to keep her pinned to the bed. “Max.”

Looking her over once more, a wicked smirk pressed in over his lips before lowering his kisses over her chest again. His lips pressed between the valley of her breasts and he could feel her wiggling beneath him, which only made his grasps around her wrists tighter. The sensation of his tongue and lips teasing over her abdomen and toward her navel caused a desperate moan to escape her lips. The last time he was in a position like this, Juliet was telling him to stop. That she couldn’t keep doing this, but Y/N sounded like she desperately loved everything that he was doing.

“Max…” she let out a breath that made him lift his head and gaze up at her with his lust filled eyes. “Please…”

Dragging his bottom lip up the planes of her body, he moved in over her and finally released her wrists allowing her to wrap her arms around his body. Reaching down, he pushed her hips apart, allowing his body to rest between her thighs and he thrust forward to grind his body up against hers. Watching her head drop back and her eyes close caused a fire to fuel inside of him as he started rocking his denim covered body against hers, giving hints to what could happen if they continued.

“What’s going on here?” August’s voice filled the room and Max could feel Y/N fidgeting beneath him. Max looked over his shoulder to see his grandfather at his bedroom door and Max could feel his jaw clenching. He got up from the bed and Y/N grabbed one of the pillows from Max’s bed to cover herself with. “I’m away for a few hours and…”

“August…” Max sighed heavily, trying to urge his grandfather out of his room. “Please…”

“Does the young woman know what a freak you are?” Max could hear his grandfather question and Max could feel his eyes slamming shut. His jaw tightened when he heard his grandfather continue to ramble on about him. “Does she know what a pervert you are and what you do? How if she gets with you that you are absolutely going to ruin her life?”

“August, please…” Max begged again and could feel his chest tightening as he stood before his grandfather. The look of absolutely disgust was pressed in over August’s face and Max could feel his body trembling. “I’m begging you, just leave…”

“He’s only going to destroy your life honey. Once he likes someone…” Max could feel Y/N moving behind him and he watched grasp the door as she stood before August now wearing his button up shirt over her body.

“Listen, I know Max is your grandson and I understand that you want to have complete control over him, but he’s an adult. He needs to have his own life and I’m going to have to respectfully ask you to leave him alone,” Y/N muttered and Max could feel his jaw dropping at her talking to August like that. Never before had he ever heard someone talk to August like that and when he watched her close and lock the door on August, Max could feel his body tensing up. She reached for the music player that Max had on his dresser and turned it on loud enough to drown out sounds for August to hear. “I know he’s your grandfather, but you can’t let him treat you like this. You are an adult Max, not a child.”

“He’s right though,” Max sighed, reaching up to caress over the back of his neck. It was clear that he was strained and upset about the few things that August had gotten to say to him. “You shouldn’t want to be with me. I am…I’m a freak.”

“Max,” she let out a frustrated sound and he could see her pulling apart his shirt that she had over her body. Max gulped down heavily, when he watched her reaching behind her and he could see that she unhooked her bra. “I don’t care what your grandfather thinks…I still want to be with you.”

“You just saw me, I’m aggressive. I like to take control…” Max watched her pull the material of her bra away from her body and he could feel a lump growing in the back of his throat. Licking over his lips, he could feel his cock hardening just at the very sight of her beautiful body being revealed to him. She slowly lowered down over the bed and he could see her reaching up to caress over her own breast, squeezing softly at her flesh and he let out an uncomfortable sound. There were many nights that he spent thinking of her this naked before him, but this time it was actually really happening. “What are you doing?”

“I’m telling you, it’s okay…” she urged him toward the bed and he still seemed uncomfortable at the idea. She laid back against his bed and reached back to prop his pillows behind her head carefully. “Max…”

“I don’t think I should be touching you like that just yet, Y/N,” Max bit into his bottom lip and watched her closely while letting out a pained nose. Seeing his camera on the edge of his dresser, he grabbed the camera and saw the look she gave him when he raised it up. “No one else will ever see these, just me…”

“Max,” she frowned, watching the smile that expanded over his lips as he started taking photos of her. Instead of getting embarrassed, he watched her get into it and start to pose for him. An excited breath escaped his lips while he watched her caressing over her breast. Continuing to snap photos, Max could feel the straining of his body against the denim of his jeans growing. “You’re going to make me touch myself and you’re just going to stand there and watch?”

“Mhmm,” he smiled widely as she reached for her panties and he lowered his camera enough, knowing that he would want to give her his complete attention so he wouldn’t forget this moment. Watching her pull the material down her body, his head turned to the side as he watch her spread her legs apart for him. A heavy exhale escaped his lips as he looked over her most intimate parts and he raised his camera up to snap another photo of her. “You are so fucking beautiful.”

“Max…” she purred as he watched her reaching between her thighs to caress over her folds and Max let out a heavy breath. Every part of him wanted to be touching her and tasting her. This was everything he wanted and she was offering it to him. He was an absolute fool for denying her this. “If we can’t have sex yet, let’s just touch…”

“Touch?” Max muttered, lowing his camera to look her over with an odd expression and he could see her patting the bed beside her. Max bit into his bottom lip, a smile pressed in over the corners of his lips as he set the camera down on his nightstand when he moved next to the bed. Moving over to the edge of the bed, he saw her looking up at him with a wide smile. “Now what?”

“Open your pants,” she ordered watching Max turn to face her, draping one of his legs over the side of the bed. A hesitant sound escaped his lips when he saw her reaching for his camera and he stopped his movements. “Hey, you get your photos, I get mine…”

“Is that how this works?” Max sighed heavily, feeling a bit hesitant with the follow through and she nodded. A wide smirk pressed in over the corners of her lips before she started to take a few photos of him from where she was laying. He reached down to pull his pants apart and pulled them open. There was a bit of a pause in his movements when he looked to her to see her focusing the camera on him. Pushing the front of his boxers down, he allowed his body to spring free from behind the cotton prison and heard her let out a heavy breath. She lowered the camera for a moment to look him over and a smirk pressed in over his lips when he saw her eyes nearly eating him alive as he sat before her. His hand reached down to wrap around his length, caressing over it slowly as he looked her over. Teasing his own straining length slowly, he could see her reach for the camera again before continuing with her photos. “Good boy.”

“Yeah?” he grunted, leaning back on his left hand while his right hand pumped over his length. “You’re very naughty, you know that?”

A smirk pressed over her lips as she set the camera aside back on the nightstand and he watched her closely as she got more comfortable on his bed. He could see her lower her right hand back to between her thighs while her left hand caressed over her breasts.

“Does that feel good?” she exhaled with a moan as he pumped his hand over his straining flesh. He nodded and she bit into her own bottom lip to let out a soft whimper. “This would feel better if it was you touching me instead…”

“Alright…” he nodded, moving up into a better sitting position, reaching out with his left hand to caress up and over her thighs. Her legs opened up further for him as his fingertips trailed over her skin before lowering closer to her core. “Like this?”

“That’s good,” she nodded with a moan when his thick fingers traced between her folds, collecting the wetness over his fingers. The tips of his fingertips teased over her clitoris, taking time to focus on her body while she arched up. Her body shook as he smiled and reached up to bring his fingers to his lips. Sucking over them softly, he let out a satisfied sound and reached back between her thighs. Taunting her flesh with his fingertips, he circled around her entrance before pushing his fingers into her warmth. A tight groan escaped his lips when he felt her walls clenching around him and saw her arch up, a moan escaping her parted lips. “Max.”

“I love the way you say my name,” he groaned, still using his other hand to caress over his length. Her hands stopped him from touching himself as she urged his hips closer to her. Watching, he saw her turn toward him and watched her wrap her hand wrap around his length. Gulping down, he continued to plunge his fingers deep within her before watching her wrap her lips around the tip of his body. The immediate damp, warmth wrapped around his body caused a moan to fall from his lips. “Y/N, God…”

The quicker her head bobbed over his length, the harder and faster his fingers plunged within her. Urging her away from his body, he stood up from the bed and heard the unpleasant sound that she made. Lowering down over the bed, Max pushed her thighs apart and laid down on his stomach hearing her breathing increase when he settled himself between her thighs.

“Tell me this is okay,” Max begged in a whisper, pressing his lips against her inner thigh, taking his time to trace over the warm flesh. “Tell me I can taste you…”

“You don’t even have to fucking ask,” she answered in a heavy breath as Max licked in over his bottom lip and let out a satisfied groan. Reaching out, he pushed apart her lips and took in the scent of her. This was a moment he was never going to forget, making her his. Leaning forward, he teased a line over her with the flat side of his tongue. The very touch caused her to flinch up into him and quiver. “Max.”

It had been so long since he had heard a woman crying out his name while pleasuring her and he absolutely loved it. Flicking his tongue against her clit over and over again, he could feel her arching up into him and he could hear the sounds she made when his beard tickled against her sensitive flesh. It was absolutely driving him crazy as a growl escaped his lips. The sensation made her let out a cry and he could feel the twitching sensation that her muscles made against his tongue. Reaching up, he pressed his fingers back inside of her and began pushing them quickly inside of her. The sensation of her clenching around his fingers caused a jolt to go straight to his groin and he thrust forward uneasily on the bed. Trying to focus less on himself, Max focused on suction his lips over her and teasing his tongue over her sensitive flesh. The taste of her drove him wild as he shook his head back and forth while pressed up closely against her.

“Yes,” she whimpered, reaching down to grasp a hold of his hair and tug on it softly. The sensation of her hips rocking against his motions was felt and he slurped heavily at her flesh before flicking his tongue wildly over her again. Max pulled away to look up at her with a half grin and he could see her look down at him, her hips arching to him, almost begging him to continue. “Max, please…”

“You want to cum?” Max growled, leaning down to teasingly flick his tongue over her folds and he cried out against the motion. Curling his fingers inside of her, he plunged them quickly when he felt her body twitching when he hit the right spot. “Huh?”

“Please,” she begged with a nod and he began plunging his fingers faster inside of her feeling her muscles tightening around him. Dropping his head back down, he focused carefully on her body and wildly flicked his tongue out against her. “Max!”

The sensation of her grabbing his hair tightly was felt and he could feel her reach her release against his tongue. Lathering up the mess that he caused, he let out a satisfied groan and could still feel her shuddering against him. Finishing up, he pulled away and reached up to wipe at his mouth with the back of his hand. Her fluids were over his beard and he could feel her tugging him close. Falling onto his knees over the bed, he felt her wrapping her lips around his length to try and give him the same kind of release he had just given her. A smile pressed in over his lips because he knew that now he had someone who was just as eager to please him as he was her. It was obvious that she craved the taste of him just as much as he did her. Reaching down, he caressed his hand throughout her hair, watching closely as she continued to pleasure him.

“Shit…” Max could feel her pumping her fist over his length at the same tempo of her mouth over him. It wasn’t going to take long to get him off. He had already had an extreme amount of pleasure from the sounds she made while he was pleasuring her. “That’s it…”

Grasping tighter at her hair, he felt her free hand reaching around to squeeze at his tight bottom while he thrust his hips into the warmth of her mouth. A heavy groan fell from his lips as he felt the first strand of his cum shoot out inside her throat. Looking down, he watched her eyes close tightly while he continued to thrust into her mouth while he finished his release and she continued to swallow it down.

Watching her pull her lips away from him body, he let out a groan and fell down to the bed beside her. His chest was rising and falling heavily and he could feel her crawling in over his chest to rest her head over it. His heart was pounding inside of him and his stomach was convulsing slightly due to his orgasm.

“How can you be afraid to be with me after that?” she slurred against his chest and he reached for her jaw to pull her up to kiss him. They both still tasted of each other as Max flicked his tongue out against hers. “That was fantastic.”

“Do you think August heard that?” Max let out a tight laugh as she caressed over his chest, taking time to play with the dark curls of hair over it. Max looked down at her with a proud smile before reaching up to wipe at his lips again. “You taste fantastic…”

“Let’s hope you get over this being afraid of things so you can feel how fantastic I am…” she patted him on the chest before lowering her head back down again. Max clutched his arm tightly around her and thought about what she said. Maybe if he just started to let go of the bad things he had done in stalking her and drugging her that one night, things would go completely fine. Maybe if he began to try and forget it himself, then he could finally be with her completely.

“And don’t think I’m going to forget about those photos,” she leaned forward to nip over his nipple, making a wince escape his lips before she kissed over it softly. Looking up at him with a wicked smile, she tensed up and shook her head slowly. “I still plan on getting my photos from that camera before I leave.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm probably going to be wrapping this one up soon. Maybe a few more chapters and then it will probably be over. I'm working up to it. Thanks to everyone that reads it :)


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max attempts to ask the OC an important question, but gets upset when he doesn't get the answer he wants.

“What’s going on?” Y/N muttered as Max stood before the door of one of his apartments. A bright smile was pressed in over his handsome features and she shrugged her shoulders. This morning he was eager to have her come by and she could tell by the way he was talking to her that something was urgent. “You are really excited and I’m really confused.”

“Well I was thinking about what you said a while back about me moving into my own apartment without August,” Max began, moving to push a key into the door before turning to her again. He rubbed his hands together and nodded toward the door. “So I couldn’t stop thinking about it and decided that you were right. It was time that I lived in my own place. I’ve been living with family for as long as I can remember and it’s about time that I learned how to be on my own.”

Pushing open the door, he grabbed a hold of her hand and led her into the apartment, pulling her slightly forward. Max held onto her hands tightly as she took a look around the large apartment and smiled.

“I’m so happy for you, it’s good to see that you are getting out of your grandfather’s grasp that he has on you,” she stated with a proud smile when she felt him moving in behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. His mouth pressed small, wet kisses over the side of her neck and she clutched her hands to his. “Does August know?”

“I haven’t told him yet, no…” Max answered with a hesitant laugh before tossing his hands up in the air. “It’s been something I’ve been doing on the side and I wanted to kind of keep it to myself for a while. I haven’t moved in here yet…”

“Gotcha,” she looked around and let out a pleased sound. Everything was gorgeous and he definitely worked hard at putting together a good looking apartment. “Did you just buy all of this furniture?”

“Some of it I had put away because we didn’t have the room for it when August had gotten sick,” Max started with a sigh, releasing her long enough to move across the apartment. “Some of it is new though. I think you’ll really like it.”

“Isn’t it more about you liking it?” she teased, reaching out to poke him in the ribs as he moved through the apartment. He showed her the kitchen, the bathroom, the living room and then took her toward the bedroom. “Ah, now is this the area that I should be getting used to?”

“Do you want to be?” Max’s eyebrow arched up and a blush pressed in over her beautiful features. She moved forward to reach up and press her hands over the center of his chest before tipping up on her toes to kiss him. A soft rumble of a groan escaped his lips when he clutched at her hips tightly. “I’d love for us to get more comfortable with this room, but there is something I want you to see more.”

“More than this beautiful room, with that brand new bed?” she took a look around the room and took notice of all the mirrors that seemed to be positioned in a very specific way. Taking a moment to look it over, a heavy sigh escaped her lips when she realized what it was positioned for. Licking at her lips, she smiled and realized just how naughty Max really was deep down. “You are a very naughty boy Max.”

“You’ve got no idea,” Max slurred with a dirty smirk before grabbing a tight hold of her hand and leading her toward the opposite end of the apartment where there was another room set up. “This room is what I’m most proud of.”

“Okay,” she laughed feeling him moving in behind her to cover her eyes with his large hands. She giggled when she felt him moving her forward carefully and cautiously before feeling him stopping their movements. “What’s so special about this?”

“This…” Max lowered his hands and she could see that there seemed to be a small portrait studio set up in the room. There were a ton of photography supplies along with multiple backgrounds set up. Max stepped in beside her, his hands rubbing together as a wide smile pressed in over his features. “What do you think?”

“You are seriously taking your photography hobby real, aren’t you?” she reached out to caress over the sides of his face in a loving manner. Licking her lips, she tipped up and gave him a quick peck on the lips before moving around the decent sized room to look over the supplies that he had. “Wow, Max. You really went all out. You spent a shit ton of money, didn’t you?”

“It’s worth it,” Max answered proudly as she looked around the room and when she turned she saw Max standing behind her with a black box in his hands. The very sight made her let out a small gasp. “Now this…this is the part that I’m most excited for.”

“What is that?” she hesitantly muttered, watching him hold out the box further and she gulped down heavily. Reaching out, she took the box into her hands and let out an uneasy breath. Pulling the lid from the box, she saw a set of keys inside and gave him a confused look after letting out a sound of relief. Her eyebrows tensed together as she pulled the keys out. “What are these for?”

“Move in with me?” Max muttered with a wide smile, his dimples larger than she had ever seen before. He was so excited and happy. It was something that she had never seen before with him, but he was possibly the happiest he had been since she had met him. “I made this room for you. So you can help your business further. You can bring people in here and make this your studio until you can afford to buy your own. In the bedroom, the dresser on the far wall is for you and I only took half of the closet. I have things open for you in the bathroom as well…”

“Whoa,” she breathed out heavily and he could see the color draining from her face. The nervous movements her body made him quite uncomfortable as he tried to read what was going on. He let out a confused sound as she put the keys back into the box and closed it. When she slipped the box into her back pocket, he tried to reach out to her, but she wouldn’t let him touch her. Not yet at least.

“What’s wrong? I thought you would like this. The apartment was your idea,” Max watched her move out of the room they were in and he could feel his pulse jump. The room started to spin around him as he followed her out into the foyer area of the apartment. “Y/N, I did this for you. For us…I thought…”

“I can’t move in with you Max. I have a contract with my apartment and…” she began with a frown, watching the smile that was over his lips begin to fade. His eyebrows tensed together and it was clear that he wasn’t prepared for her rejection to his offer. “I’d have to owe them money and…”

“I’ll pay your bill for breaking your contract,” Max offered with a simple shrug of his shoulders before sliding his hands uneasily into his pockets. It was an uncomfortable moment because she truly felt like Max just expected her to move in with him immediately without even thinking about it. “I bought all of this for you. For us. I thought that you might like living here, in a bigger space. With me.”

“Max, we haven’t even had sex yet,” she spoke out and his whole posture changed when she muttered those words. “You won’t even talk to me about things Max. How can we move in together when you don’t even trust me enough to talk to me?”

“I don’t understand, I thought we were…I thought what we have is special. I thought you cared about me. I’ve never seen anyone speak up to August like you did a couple of weeks ago and I’ve never had anyone in my life even bother to stand up for me like you have,” Max’s voice broke as she let out an uncomfortable sound seeing his saddened eyes watching her closely. “I thought that this all made sense.”

“I do care for you and what we do have is special,” she moved forward to try and cup his face in her hands, but he pulled away from her like her touch was fire. It was upsetting that he was getting too worked up over the fact of her saying no and she wished that he would have listened to her at least instead of jumping to conclusions. “Max, you can’t keep spending all of this money on me. You can’t keep…”

“If I want to spend money on you, I damn well should be able to,” Max protested with a very agitated tone and she stepped back from him when his voice began to rise. “I’ve done all of this for you. I don’t understand what I’ve done wrong.”

“I didn’t say you did anything wrong Max. We’ve only been dating a little over a month. I feel like we need to learn more about each other before we decide that we are going to move in together. I want to be able to say that I was able to make it in New York on my own. Not have my very sweet boyfriend…” she tried to reach out to touch his hands, but he pulled away from her. “Max…please. I’m not doing this to upset you.”

“I thought you would like this. I thought you would want to be with me,” Max spat out and she suddenly began to feel very guilty when she heard the pain behind his voice. His eyes were misting over and she shook her head slowly trying to get him to calm down and understand what was actually happening. She knew that he was sensitive, but she never realized that it would be this easy to upset him. “I spent so much time picking out everything that I thought you would like…”

“It’s beautiful Max, but you should be doing this for yourself. Not for me,” she tried to apologize and moved toward him, only to have him pull away from her. “Max, I’m asking you to see this from my perspective. I really care about you, I want to be in your life and maybe within time we can do something like this…”

“You want to be able to tell people you made it in New York on your own, but you don’t want to be able to tell people that you found love?” Max moved forward, reaching out to cup her face in his hands roughly. The look of desperation pressed in over his features and she could tell that he was absolutely sold on this idea of them living together. “When you know you love someone, you know. You know that they are right for you and I know we haven’t said this yet, but I love you Y/N. I love you and you mean so much to me. I think our story…I think people would find it romantic. Why continue to waste life being alone when I have everything I’ve ever wanted, right here in front of me?”

“Me saying no to living with you doesn’t mean I’m not going to be right here for you Max,” she assured him and reached up to cup his hands in hers. Caressing over the back of his hands, she could see a tear pressing in over the side of his face and she shook her head. “Please Max, I’m not saying I want to break up with you, I’m just saying that I don’t want to live with you…yet.”

“What would make you change your mind?” he sounded desperate as she moved away from him and he bit into his bottom lip. “Please Y/N; please tell me what it’s going to take.”

“Time. We have only just gotten used to being around each other Max,” she pointed out with a bit of seriousness in her tone. She threw her hands up and looked around. “I feel like we should know each other a little bit more before deciding to move in with each other.”

“I spend the night at your home quite often as it is,” Max reminded her and she let out a heavy sigh as he reached up to caress over the back of his neck in an uncomfortable manner. “Just listen, okay? Until I met you, I had this warped version of reality. There was something I did, something I have always done, but since I’ve been with you, I haven’t done it. You pulled me out of a darkness that I thought I could never escape. What I thought to be love, what I thought I felt about love was wrong and I realize all of that now because of you. I’m broken and…you liked me, even knowing that.”

“Of course I do Max,” she hushed him, stepping forward to press her fingertips into his hair to caress over it in a calming fashion. It was still clear that he was upset as she reached up to touch over his damp cheeks. “I do like you, just as you are.”

“See, I thought that was true. I thought that all this time, all this time that I’ve been being tortured in life. All this time being stuck behind fucking walls instead of being with someone myself and being happy was my punishment,” Max began to ramble and he could see her eyebrows tense together, showing the confusion that pressed in over her features when he spoke. “Now, I just realized that it was life. It was life taking its course so it could lead me to you. All the scars, everything I’ve been tortured with has led me to you and I just…I don’t want to scare you away, but give this a chance. Please. For once in my life, I know I’ve found something that’s right. Something that can save me and…”

“I’m still right here Max,” she claimed, trying to get him to focus as he continued on with his words. “I’m not saying it’s no forever, I’m just saying no right now. I just need time.”

“Take a leap of faith. It might take time, but I think you will realize that being here with me is good for you. It’s good for us,” Max pushed forward to desperately kiss over her lips and he could feel her kissing him back with an uncertainty in her motions. “Please Y/N. I love being with you and I love you…”

“I love spending time with you and I love you being in my life, but…” she seemed strained as she tried to think of something more to say to him.

“You don’t love me,” he slurred with anger in his tone and she held her hands up to stop him, but he was already started. The sensation of him pulling away from her roughly was felt and she let out a tight breath. “I should have known that you wouldn’t have fallen in love with me. I’m the freak that I told you I was from the start and you filled my head with these ideas that I could be someone that someone loved. A person that someone could care for…”

“Stop,” she begged, watching him reach for the vase from the corner of the room and watched him launch it against the wall. The shattering sound caused her to tense up as she gave him a look like he had actually made her scared of him. “I do care about you. I don’t think it’s fair that you are saying I don’t when I just said that I couldn’t move in with you right now.”

“Right, sure,” Max nodded as he reached up to tug throughout his hair. It was clear that he was very upset and angry. Tossing his hands up in the air, he moved away from her and she heard something else shattering when she watched him swiping his hand into the row of glasses that was on the small bar that he had in the corner of his living room. “You don’t want to move in because it would keep you from the other guys in your life, right?”

“What?” she snapped with a disgusted sound as he turned to look at her with his angered hazel eyes. “I have no other men in my life. I have my friends and I have you. I’m with you. All I am is…”

“Right, you are only fucking around with me,” he snarled with a shake of his, coming off completely disgusted with her. “Sure.”

“You know what, you’re right Max. Not all of us can be as special as Juliet. I mean, I’m not as innocent and pure as she is,” Y/N bit back and Max could feel his fists clenching at his side. It wasn’t the best thing to give it back to him, but at this point he wasn’t even attempting to listen to her side of things. “I mean, I definitely have an ex-boyfriend on the side while I’m trying to hook up with you. I’m totally playing you along. It’s not like I’m with you every single day or anything…”

“You’re being immature,” Max rolled his eyes and he saw her laugh before throwing up her hands and shaking her head. She pointed toward the glasses that he shattered and he leaned back against the wall. He wanted to bring up Christian so bad, but he couldn’t find it in himself to do so. “Juliet means nothing to me.”

“Oh, right. That’s why when she still seemed to be interested in you, that you corrected her and showed her no interest, right?” she growled, folding her arms out in front of her chest. She could see that Max’s chest was rising and falling heavily as he stood before her. “You wish that you could have her back in your life and that she was falling at your feet. You are just settling for me and I’ve known that from the very start.”

“I told her that you were my girlfriend and I’m not settling,” Max reminded her, pointing his finger out at her with his voice now screaming. “So don’t you dare tell me that I’m being a bad boyfriend to you. I’ve shown absolutely no interest in her and have put my focus entirely on you.”

“Okay Max, I don’t know who you think you are talking to, but I know you aren’t raising your voice at me,” she shook her head and took the box from her back pocket before setting it down on the table beside her. “I’m not going to take that.”

“What?” Max watched her moving toward the door and he watched her walk out of the apartment. Quickly following her behind, he followed her down the stairs and reached out for her hand to stop her from leaving. “Are you breaking up with me?”

“No, I’m not breaking up with you, but you need to calm down,” she answered with a heavy sigh, feeling his hand trembling in hers and she shook her head. “Max, I’m sorry, okay? I just…you need to be honest with me. You need to tell me the things that you keep trying to tell me, but won’t. I need to know that you trust me enough to be in your life before I live with you.”

“I do,” he pleaded and she shook her head, reaching out to caress over his features in a tender manner. “I trust you.”

“Then take the day to think about things and come to me tomorrow and tell me what’s going on. Okay?” she hushed him, moving forward to press a soft kiss over his lips. “Please Max, I need you to just think about things and realize what I’m saying.”

“Y/N, please…” Max whimpered as he felt her pushing her fingertips throughout his hair. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m just begging you with everything that I am….”

“I know,” she hushed him and cupped his face softly. “Just come see me tomorrow and everything is going to be okay.”

Max stood and watched her leave. He wanted to chase after her, but at the same time he wanted to give her what she asked of him. So that’s what he did. For the first time, he tried to think what the best response would be instead of doing instinctively what he wanted. If it was his choice, he would be running after her, but he did as she asked from him. Gave her space.

Moving back up the stairs, he headed to his apartment that he had taken her to. Grabbing something to clean up the broken glass, Max bent over and while he was cleaning heard the sounds of someone pushing open the door.

“Listen…” Max lifted his head, hoping to see Y/N there, but instead saw Juliet standing before him. Dropping down to his knees, he let out a confused sound and saw her stepping further into the room. “Juliet?”

“Max, I uh…I heard the fighting and I just…” she stood before him, holding her hands together as she looked at the mess that he had created in the apartment. “It was a little hard not to hear considering what was going on. I just, I wanted to see if you were okay.”

“Of course I’m okay,” Max snorted with a huff, picking up the glass with the dustpan before heading toward the kitchen. The sound of her following not far behind was heard and he let out an uncomfortable sound. “Listen, it’s not the best time right now…”

“I just thought that maybe you could use someone to talk to,” Juliet offered and Max bit into his bottom lip when he looked her over. She was standing awfully close to him in the kitchen and he could feel his ache in his chest that was growing. “You were there when I needed someone to talk to and I thought that maybe you could use the same.”

“I have to respectfully decline Juliet, I just…I’m not really the sharing type. I like to have my life kept personal from those around me,” Max answered, moving around the bar that was in the kitchen and he headed to grab something from the pantry. “I’m just busy and…”

Turning on his heel, Max could feel the delicate grasp of Juliet’s hands grabbing a hold of his jaw and pulling him forward into a kiss. The motion shocked him as he felt her kissing over his lips over and over again before he pulled away with an angered breath.

“What the hell Juliet?” Max snapped and reached up to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’m with someone and you pull that on me?”

“I just thought with what I heard when she mentioned me that maybe…” she spoke up nervously and Max’s face scrunched up before he let out a tense sound and leaned back against the cabinets in the kitchen. “I just have seen the way you’ve looked at me still and I thought that getting back with Jack would be what made things right, what made things feel better, but…”

“So I’d be the side guy again? You could have had me. I gave you the full opportunity to do so and I really liked you Juliet, a lot,” Max informed her, grasping onto the edges of the counter as he sighed heavily. This would have been a dream come true to him a few months ago, but now it was just a nightmare. “That day at the coffee shop, I was begging you to give me some kind of sign that there could be something more between us. Something that I thought could be more between us, but there wasn’t. There isn’t. You love your ex and I love Y/N. When you had the chance, you should have taken it. I was head over heels in love with you Juliet.”

“Max, I was just…” Juliet stammered and Max bit into his bottom lip before moving out of the kitchen. She followed him toward the foyer and he moved toward the door to pull it open for her to leave. “I’m sorry, I just thought…”

“I know what you thought, but I’m going to have to decline,” Max answered with a frustrated breath, nodding toward the hallway for her to leave. “So please, could you go back to your apartment and think about your relationship with Jack because I guarantee I’m not the man that you want.”

There was an uncomfortable silence that pressed between the two of them and when she left the apartment, he closed the door and moved over toward the leather couch that he had to drop down on top of it. Groaning inwardly, he reached up to pinch at the bridge of his nose. Juliet wasn’t bad, she wasn’t evil, she was just a woman that didn’t know what she wanted with her life and he was the guy that was spying on her. Between the two of them, he knew that he was the monster, but he just couldn’t believe that the world was trying to have things like this play out for him. The only thing that the interaction with Juliet taught him is that he wanted Y/N and tomorrow he needed to be honest with her.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max does something that causes the OC (reader) to question their relationship until a friend reminds her what Max means to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is very...very smutty.

“So you’re telling me that he flipped out because you told him no when he asked you to move in with him?” Christian shouted with a mouthful of the sandwich that he was eating while he moved around Y/N’s apartment toward her couch where her computer was sitting on top of the coffee table. Dropping down, he pulled it open and looked through the folder that she had opened. She was currently in the bathroom getting ready after her shower and he took another hefty bite on his sandwich. “I mean, that’s pretty creepy, don’t you think?”

“Max has had to deal with a life of problems Christian,” she sighed from the bathroom and he let out a tight laugh. “Rejection is hard for him because it’s hard for him to approach someone to begin with. I can only imagine how he’s been all night. I know that it was complicated for him, but I just…I don’t know. I’m worried about him.”

“And this is someone that you can see yourself ending up with?” Christian questioned with a small groan when she popped her head out from the bathroom to glare at him. “I know he means the world to you, I can tell that when you talk about him, but what happens when you get mad at him and tell him off for something he does when you’re married?”

“We’ve already made great improvements with his attitude, together,” she informed Christian with a frown and he attempted to lighten up a bit, knowing that the guy meant quite a lot to her. “I wish you could understand.”

“I do understand, I just want you to be careful with this guy,” Christian vowed when he reached for the computer to pull it closer for him to look through the things that were opened. “I just have never seen you fall for someone like this and I want to make sure that this is really what you want.”

“It is,” she assured him from across the room and he could hear the sink turning on.

“Holy shit…” he choked as he started looking through some of the photos in the folder that was opened. Pausing on a photo, he clicked it open to enlarge it and let out a whistle. Clicking through the photos, he set his food aside and tilted his head to the side. “Damn…”

“What?” Y/N moved out of the bathroom to see him sitting in front of her computer and she gave him a confused expression. Moving across the room, she saw that he had the photos that she had taken of Max while he was pleasuring himself from their intimate night opened. Shoving Christian aside, she closed the computer and let out an angered sound. She promised that no one would ever see those beyond her and she felt bad. That would embarrass the hell out of Max if he ever found out her friend saw them. Christian let out a heavy exhale, fanning himself. Reaching for the magazine from the coffee table, she rolled it up and reached out to smack him in the center of the head with it. “You nosey little shit.”

“No, it’s cool. I get it now. He’s a freak, but he has a very nice cock,” Christian held up his hands with a whistle and he continued to fan himself. “I’m thinking about fucking him right now and I don’t even know the guy. Those photos were spicy. I see why you like him. The dude lets you take sexy photos of him like that, no wonder you like him.”

“Stop, you are going to meet him one day and it’s going to get weird,” she huffed heavily and Christian moved up from the couch with a smile. “Really, please forget that you saw those.”

“Hey, I could meet him and he might want a piece,” Christian snorted and she rolled her eyes when he moved over toward his drink on the counter. “I mean he is supposed to be coming over here today? I might just stay longer to see if he wants to make a decision between you or me.”

“That’s not funny, you aren’t his type,” Y/N breathed from the couch and Christian shrugged, pushing his fingertips throughout his blonde hair. “I’m serious, don’t stick around and make this weird.”

“I’m not his type?” Christian feigned being hurt and he shook his head with a laugh. “How do you know that?”

“Well first of all he isn’t gay,” she pointed out with a sigh and Christian shrugged his shoulders.

“You told me that Max has lived a very sheltered life. He may think he’s straight, but then he meets me and realizes that he might actually be gay after all,” Christian teased his friend and he felt her getting up to come and smack him in the center of the chest. “Alright, okay? I’ll just deal with you sending me a few of those photos and then I’ll leave him be…”

“Oh, fuck off,” she laughed, moving toward the door to lead him toward the downstairs area of her apartment building to leave. “If you weren’t my best friend, I’d kick your ass for talking about trying to take my boyfriend.”

“The only reason I won’t try to steal your boyfriend is because you are my best friend,” he let out a small laugh when the two moved outside of her apartment and he sighed heavily. Reaching out, he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her close to him. “I hope everything goes well between the two of you and you end up happily ever after. The two of you will move in together and you will end up having two beautiful children and it will be like a modern day fairytale…”

“Gee, thanks,” she laughed feeling Christian pressing a gentle kiss over her cheek before feeling Christian being yanked away from her with a forceful tug. The pull caused him to fall out on the cement, hitting it hard when she looked up to see Max standing before her with a hoodie on. Max pulled the hood down slowly before holding his finger out to point out at a confused Christian. “Max!”

“You stay the hell away from her!” Max demanded with a snarl and Christian gave him a confused look before Max moved forward to bring his foot into Christian’s ribs making him let out a groan from the collision. Max bent down and began to hit Christian again and again, before feeling Y/N hooking her arms around him to try and get Max to stop. Max’s grunts were heard as he swung his fist at Christian again, but Christian had enough energy to pull himself away on the cement. “She’s mine, do you fucking understand me?”

“Max, stop it!” she ordered, getting Max far enough away from Christian, hearing Max’s breathing erratic and she shook her head slowly. Finally getting him back and away from Christian, she grabbed a tight hold of Max’s jaw to get him to look at her. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“I’m not going to have him stepping in on you when we’re on the offs, you’re my girlfriend and he is trying to move in on you while we’re…” Max heard the sound of Christian laughing on the ground and turned his head to see the blonde wiping the blood away from his nose. “You think that’s fucking funny?”

“Stop it!” she yelled at Max when he went to go after Christian again and she used all the strength that she had to stop Max from attacking Christian. “He’s my gay best friend Max! The one I told you about when we first met. The one that lived in a different part of New York that used to live with me. He’s gay!”

“He’s…gay…” Max muttered with an uneasy breath when he looked to see Christian nod from where he was sitting up on the sidewalk now and Max let out an uncomfortable sound. Taking a look at Christian, Max realized that the entire time he had been reading way too much into their relationship, but now that she reminded him of her gay best friend, he remembered it and cussed to himself. “Oh shit…”

“The clothes you borrowed that time were his,” she admitted and Max could feel his body trembling. When he saw the two of them close when walking to her house, Max didn’t know how to react. Thinking things out first was not his first choice and his brain just told him to attack Christian. So that’s what he did. “Damn it Max, what the hell?”

“I’m sorry, I just…” Max apologized with a heavy sigh, trying to move forward toward her and she shook her head slowly. She blocked him off and he desperately tried to reach out to her, but she wouldn’t allow him. “Y/N, please…”

“No, don’t touch me,” she demanded in a yell and Max could feel his body locking up, his forehead tensing as he she tried to think of what to say. “You attack my best friend for hugging me and wishing me the best when it came to us. You…you are too hostile.”

“Hey, hold on,” Christian retorted from the ground and both Max along with Y/N turned to look at him. “I get it, I’d probably jump someone too if they were so close to my boyfriend and they were with someone as good looking as I am.”

“Oh, shut up!” she rolled her eyes at Christian who laughed from the ground and he could see Max roll his eyes before looking back to Y/N again. “This is something serious Christian.”

“I’m okay, really I am,” Christian tried to move up and let out a pained noise when he shrugged his shoulders and realized that was a bit of lie. Max looked to him and let out a heavy breath before moving across the way to try to help him up.

“I’m so sorry,” Max insisted, hooking his arm around Christian’s shoulders to try and help pull him to his feet. Some of Christian’s blood was splattered out on the cement and Max suddenly felt awful about the whole thing. The time that he had been spying on Christian and Y/N, he thought this guy was a total dick and while that was the case, Christian was still the one person trying to defend him. Sort of.

“Well, this is an interesting way to say hello. Hey Max, that’s my gay best friend you just broke the nose of,” Christian slurred, finally getting to his feet with the help of Max. When Max made sure Christian was good enough to stand on his own, Christian stood before Max and tossed his hands out. “I know you have fucking issues, so I’m going to let you get away with that, but next time you fucking touch me like that…I’ll kick your ass.”

Max closed his eyes, feeling very suddenly embarrassed when he felt Christian squeezing his shoulder softly before heading for the stairs toward Y/N’s apartment building.

“I’m going to go clean this up while you talk to Rocky there,” Christian headed for the door and saw Y/N nod as Christian held his hand up to wave. “This would usually be the part if you hadn’t hit me in the fucking face and ribs where I would tell you that I’ve heard so many wonderful things about you, but I really don’t feel like rubbing your ego right now, so you are going to have to excuse me. It was not really that nice meeting you, but maybe the next time we can have a meet up where you don’t try to break my face in…”

Christian went to move into the apartment before stepping back out and he snapped his fingers at Y/N to get her attention.

“Now don’t think I’m saying he’s a psycho, even if he may be. What I just said was between the two of us as men,” Christian began and she gave him a confused expression as he talked in circles. Max even looked out at him confused and Christian tossed his hands up. “Just get that I’m saying I understand why he did what he did, even if he was being a fucker.”

“Yeah, thanks for that,” Max blurt out with a disgusted sound and Christian nodded before moving into the building. Max could feel his throat clenching and he tried to think of what to say, but he could see that Y/N was completely upset with him. 

 “You have to understand, this isn’t the first time I’ve seen him touching you like that,” Max tried to explain with a tight breath and she shook her head slowly. Her eyebrows were clenched and he stuttered as he tried to think of what to say next. “I’m so sorry; I just got jealous and reacted. I just saw him touching you and acting really…”

“So you automatically assume that I’m two timing and that’s why you’ve been giving me the attitude lately?” she snapped and Max’s jaw clenched when she brought up the attitude he had about other men in her life. His actions were starting to make so much sense now that she knew that he had seen her previously with Christian. “So when exactly did you see me with Christian and it made you think that I was not being good to you?”

“The day you cancelled on me. I came here and I saw you with him,” he cleared his throat uneasily, knowing that he wasn’t about to tell her that he snuck into her place and was out on the fire escape listening to them. “Then the day on the boat, I saw him clinging to you like he was and just automatically assumed…”

“So that’s why you left the boat and didn’t come to meet my friends? You weren’t feeling sick at all…” she put together what he was saying and she saw him nod. An irritated sound escaped her lips and she tried to think of something to say, but everything she was thinking of sounded awful in her head. “You do realize that the day I cancelled with you, Christian and I went to meet my friend who was setting up the party, right? She was having a flip attack about the decorations and demanded the two of us come over to help her pick out the decorations. It was an emergency is what she told me. If she would have said what it was about to begin with, I would have never cancelled on you.”

“I wish that I had an explanation as to why I am the way I am, but I’m fucked up. I came here to tell you everything, to tell you how I felt and…” Max could see her roll her eyes and move over toward the stairs that led to her building. When she dropped down on top of them, he threw his hands up and bit down on his bottom lip. “Y/N…I’ve made mistakes. I’ve done really terrible things in our relationship, things you will probably never know…”

“Didn’t you just tell me that you came here to tell me everything, yet you just immediately after said that there are things about our relationship that I will never know?” she pointed out, sliding her tongue uncomfortably over her bottom lip. “Damn it Max, you just…you make this so hard.”

“I know,” Max nodded, a loud groan escaping his throat when he stepped back. “I know that I should be leaving and I’m so sorry this happened, but…”

“It’s probably for the best if you did leave,” she interrupted him and could see the color drain from his face while he stared out at her. A gulp filled the air and she looked to see his knuckles bruised from hitting Christian like he did. “What are you going to do if another man is hugging me? Most of my friends are men Max. Are you going to attack them all and always think I’m cheating? Will I be the next person that you hit when you don’t believe me?”

“I would never, ever hit you,” Max assured her with a desperate sound and she looked up at him when he stammered for his words. Max could feel his body trembling and he could tell that he fucked everything up with one stupid action. “Please…it was an accident. We were fighting and I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“You need to leave,” she insisted again and Max stood before her, his saddened eyes watching her closely. When he saw the look she gave him, he nodded and took a few steps back away. Max almost looked like he was waiting for her to ask him to stay, but when she didn’t he headed off in the other direction, leaving her there. Once she was sure he was gone, she stood up from where she was sitting and turned to see Christian standing at the doorway watching her. Seeing him made her jump back before letting out a tight growl. There was an icepack that he had pressed over the center of his face and she struggled to find something to say. “Christian, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

 “I’m just saying, I would have hit me too,” Christian restated with a sigh and he shrugged his shoulders. “Putting my asshole thoughts aside, you have told me a lot about this guy. He’s been through a lot. He’s been abused his entire life and he handles things wrong. I think it’d scary if he was normal to put him in this situation, but from what you’ve told me, he was just acting out of instinct because he was afraid of losing you.”

“But hitting you was wrong,” she insisted and Christian shook his head. The fact that her friend that was just attacked by Max was defending him blew her mind. This whole time Christian had been shit talking Max, but when Max attacked him, Christian had nothing, but good things to say. “That was wrong…”

“He loves you, now go the fuck after him because I know you are head over heels for him too,” Christian suggested with a deep groan as he pulled the ice away from his face. “Don’t make this broken nose and possible black eye worthless. I’m telling you to go after him. I get it and I get what he did. I won’t be mad and I won’t hold this against him. I’m just saying if you love him…you need to go after him.”

“But what if he attacks someone else that I care about? What if he attacks some random stranger for getting close to me?” she implored further, but Christian still seemed to be sticking to his guns about the idea. “I care for him, but this whole thing…”

“Was a mistake. If he makes the mistake again, then okay…but I can see he cares about you and I know you do him too,” Christian pulled the ice away from his face to see if he was still bleeding before shrugging his shoulders. “I’ll stay here and you can go after him. I’ll close up the apartment, but from what you told me, you don’t want a guy like him to be alone. Not after a moment like this.”

“Are you sure?” she reached for permission from her friend, but realized he had been giving it to her all along. “I’ll be back.”

“Just go get your man, okay?” Christian retorted with a snort, watching her take off in the other direction after Max and he let out a tight groan. Hopefully whatever was meant to happen was about to.

 

* * *

  
  
Clutching the six pack of beer under his arm, Max struggled with his keys before pushing open the door to his new apartment. While he wouldn’t normally be staying there, he didn’t want to spend his night with August telling him what a piece of shit he was after everything went down. Reaching for the light, he flicked it on and let out a shocked noise when he saw Y/N sitting on his leather couch. Closing the door behind him, he let out a long sigh and set the pack of beer down on the ground.

“You are breaking into homes now?” Max folded his arms out in front of his chest and saw her sitting up slowly from the couch when he made a disgusted noise. She said nothing, just moved in closer to him and he watched her closely. “Listen, I know what I did was wrong and I know I shouldn’t have done it, but…”

The sensation of her lips pressing in over his caused Max to let out a tense breath. When he felt her pulling away from him, he gave her an odd look before she moved in to kiss him again. Dropping his keys onto the ground, Max’s arms reached out to wrap around her waist to pull her closer to him and he heard her whimper when he picked her up to crush her in against his chest.

“This isn’t exactly what I was expecting,” Max slurred against her lips as he felt her hands pushing into his jacket to get it off his shoulders. Carefully lowering her back to the ground, a small groan escaped his lips when he felt her dragging her nails over the center of his chest through his shirt. There was a desperate sound that escaped her lips when he felt her lips desperate to move in over his again. The kiss was intense and passionate as her mouth parted for him to allow him to press his tongue between her lips. Flicking his tongue over hers in an erotic fashion, he could feel her reaching for the bottom of his shirt to push it up over his stomach. Stepping back, he allowed her to pull the material up his body and drop it to the floor quickly. “Shouldn’t we talk about things?”

“We can talk about things after,” she insisted, reaching out to shakily pull apart his belt and watched his chest rising and falling heavily.

Max’s hooded eyes were watching her closely as she reached up to trace her fingertips from the center of his chest, down toward his lower abdomen. Teasing her fingertips over the sensitive flesh, she could see a smile press in over his lips and she continued to caress over the dark hair over his torso. Max reached out to grab the bottom of her shirt and she allowed him to pull it from her body before looking him over.  Quickly ridding the rest of her clothes, she watched him gulp down heavily before biting into his bottom lip.

 “Does this mean that you forgive me? For everything?” Max questioned reached up to caress over his stubble covered face and he slid his tongue out in over his bottom lip. His eyes were eating her alive when he saw her standing before him, naked and shaking. There was the need to rip his pants off and take her right then and there. While he wanted to sleep with her, he didn’t want to do it with her still mad at him. “I need to know.”

“Everything is okay Max,” she assured him with a nod, a small smirk pressing in over her lips and she took a bold step forward to reach up to cup his face in her hands. Kissing her over and over again, Max could feel her pulling open his pants and pushing them down quickly, taking his boxers down in the process. His erection sprung free once it was released from the material and he felt her instinctively reaching out to caress over his thick body and he fought to hold back a soft moan. “I want to be with you.”

“And you are sure about this?” Max confirmed with a hungry gaze and she nodded slowly. Max reached up to grab her jaw in his right hand roughly. The sensation of his lips suctioning over her bottom lip caused a desperate breath to escape her lips. “I’d be lost without you…I’m sorry for what I did.”

“Shh…” she shook her head and parted her lips just enough for his tongue to flick over her sensitive bottom lip. Taking the advantage, she wrapped her lips around his tongue and suctioned over it softly before moving back to watch as her hand continued to pump over his solid length. By now he was completely hard and aching in her grasp.

Forcing her to turn around, Max could hear the gasp that escaped her lips when he pushed into the center of her back to lower her down to grasp at the back of the couch. The loud heavy breaths that escaped her lips sounded nervous and he could feel her shaking as he dragged his fingertips down the center of her back. Reaching up, he sucked over his fingers with his lips getting them wet enough before lowering them back down to tease over her entrance. Her hips arched back closer to him when he pushed his fingers into her and started slowly pumping them in and out of her. A groan escaped his throat when he felt her body warm, wet and inviting around his fingers. The rocking of her hips against his fingers was felt and he pulled them out and reached for his own length.

Caressing over his solid erection, he stepped forward and teased his body between her folds. Teasing the head of his body over her slick folds, he let out a groan himself and reached up with his left hand to clutch at her hip. The tip of his cock pressed against her clitoris causing her hips to bounce forward and a whimper escaped her parted lips. Her eyes met his when she looked over her shoulder at him giving him a look that was nearly begging him to enter her.

“Patience,” Max hushed as he moved his hips back again to caress from the head of his body down his base.

“Wait, do we need something?” she whispered in a panicked tone and Max let out a tight groan when he realized that he had nothing in the apartment. Her body was trembling and he knew that he couldn’t keep himself away from her long enough for them to stop and go get condoms.

“I’ll pull out before I cum, I promise…” he suggested moving forward to press his lips in over the center of her back, teasing his tongue over her warm flesh. When she nodded, it gave him the go ahead and he pushed the head of his erection over her entrance, still teasing her with the idea of him entering her. Quickly rubbing the head of his cock over her soaked body, he could feel her trying to urge her hips back against him. When he pulled away again, the frustrated noise she made had him laugh when he pushed forward to get the tip of his body into her tight warmth. When he entered her, a surprised gasp escaped her lips and he pushed forward a tiny bit before slamming his hips forward. A whine escaped her lips and a smile crossed his when he saw her writhe before him. Clutching her hips in both hands, he started thrusting in and out slowly, getting her used to his length. “God…”

The way her body clung to him felt amazing and he began to pop his hips forward, smacking his lower abdomen against her bottom over and over again causing a cry to escape her lips every time his entire length filled her. The slapping sounds his body made against hers filled the air as his hips continued to smack up against her behind.

“Max,” she mewled out his name, arching her back when she clutched tighter to the back of the couch. Reaching his arm around her waist, he pulled her up against him and heard her whimper when the movement caused his length to pull from out of her. Reaching up to possessively grasp at her breast, he kneaded it in his hand and pressed his mouth in over the side of neck. “Please…”

She was desperate as she rocked her hips over his cock between her legs and then reached behind her to grab his length and try to urge it back into her body. As soon as she got the tip of his body back at her entrance, he snapped his hips up and began to rock from behind her over and over again. Biting into the warm flesh on her shoulder, he could hear her whimpering and crying out before him.

“You feel so good,” Max growled against her skin, hearing her gasp fill the air when his hand gripped at her throat, squeezing softly. The sounds his body made inside of her drove him to want to quicken the power of his thrusts as she hooked her hands around his arm to stop herself from falling forward. Keeping his left hand wrapped around her throat, he reached down with his right and started caressing over her clitoris. The sensation of her quivering in his arms was felt while he continued to rock his body at the same tempo his fingers made over her sensitive flesh. “Cum for me…”

“Max, please…” she begged while his caress continued to get harder and harder over her. Nipping at her earlobe, he slammed his throbbing length into her and felt her body begin to shake. Her right hand reached down to grasp at his wrist and he didn’t know whether she wanted him to stop or continue, but he kept up with the caress. A moment later, he could hear her let out a wail and felt his body being forced out from inside of her as his movements caused her to cum, squirting all over him and his wooden floor. A proud sound escaped his lips as he held her trembling body close to him. Squeezing harder at her neck, he could feel her body shaking against his. A sound he had never heard her make before was escaping her throat and he smiled widely. “My God…”

“Wow…you certainly made a mess, didn’t you?” Max grunted when he felt her pulling his grasp from her neck and turning to him. Her hands shoved firmly into the center of his chest, urging him to his leather chair in the corner of the room as he dropped down heavily. Her body was still shaking slightly as he urged her closer to him with the wiggle of his finger. “Come on baby…”

Y/N crawled in over him on the chair and pressed her legs on each side of his body. Looking down, he watched his cock pressing in over her folds while her hips rose in over his. A heavy grunt escaped his lips when she slammed her body over his, sinking all the way to the base. Another heavy cry fell from her mouth when she pressed her hand over the center of his chest to brace herself for a moment. Her body was still clamping and flexing over his girth from the effects of her orgasm, but he watched her begin to rock her hips against his length. Trying to focus, he wanted to keep this picture in his mind forever.

It was small rocking motions that she made over him at first, enjoying the sensation of his body filling hers before reaching back to brace her hand over his thigh to give her the strength to start urging her hips over his harder.

“Yeah, that’s it,” Max’s head dropped back when he felt her squeezing over the head of his body with her motions. His right hand urged in over her hip while she took complete control of his body inside of her. Looking down, he saw his cock covered in her slick fluids and the sight of it disappearing and reappearing as she took him back and forth in her warmth. “Shit…”

The chair started squeaking with the rocking motions she made over him and he reached out to clutch at her arm while his other hand grabbed a hold of her throat. Squeezing softly at the flesh, he could hear her whimpers and cries getting heavier over him. Urging her hips up into a steady position, Max started plowing his hips up into her in a force that caused a loud moan to fall from her lips. The smacks his body made against hers filled the room while he dropped his hands and wrapped them around her wrists to keep her in the position she was.

“Oh my God,” she hissed when she threw her head back and he arched his hips up more on the chair to continue to slam his body deeply within hers. After pumping into her a few more times, he reached out to grab at the back of her neck to pull her in against his body. Her fingertips hooked into his hair, pulling him closer to her neck to kiss over it while his thrusting motions continued under her. His lips met hers in a kiss, his tongue twisting with hers when he could feel her body begin to clamp around his again. “Max…”

“I’m almost there,” Max muttered when he felt her rest her jaw over his shoulder. Starting to thrust up harder and harder, he saw her reach down to start caressing over her folds and he grunted heavily. When her cry filled the air and he felt her squeezing around him again, he could feel his body close to release. Lifting his hips up further off the couch, he slammed and pounded into her, feeling her weak body in his arms as his stomach started clenching. His body felt like it was on fire when he snapped his hips up a few more times. Wrapping his arms around her shoulders, he clung to her and felt her heavy breaths against the side of his neck. Groaning out, he gasped when he felt his whole body tightening up and he clutched at her body. “Move your hips…get off, I’m gonna cum…”

Max helped quickly urge her hips from his as he groaned out loudly, feeling his seed shooting out from his body forcefully. Reaching up, he smacked his hand in over her bottom heavily and heard her crying out upon impact while his long strands of cum covered her bottom. Dropping down in the chair, he could feel her falling in over him as he groaned out. Her hands clutched at his wet hair while his chest rose and fell heavily against hers.

“I’ve never felt anything like that before,” she muttered against his jawline while he felt his heart hammering inside of his chest. She leaned up enough over his body and he dropped his head forward to take her breast between his lips. Swirling his tongue over the nipple again and again, he pulled away with a popping noise before tipping his head back to meet her eyes in a desperate look. “You are amazing.”

“Thank you,” Max laughed against her lips when she moved in to kiss him again before biting into his bottom lip. The sensation of her laying her head against his shoulder was felt while she caressed her fingertips through his soaked hair. Reaching down, he hooked his arms around her waist to pick her up when he stood from the chair. Carrying her over toward the bathroom, he urged her onto her feet and made her set her hands over the counter. Grabbing a cloth, he turned on the sink and wet it before cleaning up the mess that his thick cum made over her bottom. Pressing a soft kiss over her shoulder blade, he urged her to take a seat on the sink counter before going to clean off his own body. “You’re fantastic yourself…”

“Max…” she managed to breathe out, her eyes meeting his as he tossed the cloth to the side and moved in to press his body between her legs. He grasped her jaw in her hands and nodded slowly. “I’m sorry we fought about the apartment.”

“No, we don’t have to talk about this right now,” Max hushed her, reaching out to press his index finger over her lips to silence her. Replacing his fingers with his lips, he kissed her again and again before picking her again to carry her over toward the bedroom. Laying her down carefully on the bed, he moved in over her and met her lips in a soft caress. “We can talk about our problems later; right now I just want to focus on you…”

 

* * *

  
  
Max let out a pleased sound as he watched Y/N sleeping against his shoulder while he held onto her tightly. Caressing his rough fingertips through her hair, he felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest with having her here with him. He was worried originally that she would want nothing to do with him after he attacked her gay best friend. If she had learned what he had done in stalking her and drugging her that night, this would have definitely never happened. So he made a vow to himself that there was one thing he was never going to tell her and that was that he drugged her. At some point, maybe he would tell her that he did spy on people, but he was never going to tell her about drugging her.

Leaning forward in the bed, he pressed a soft kiss against her temple before squeezing his arm softly around her shoulders. Noticing that she was heavily still asleep, Max got out from under her and carefully moved out of bed. Waiting a moment, he watched her closely to make sure that she wasn’t waking up when he moved before heading out of his room. Moving over toward his computer that was set up on the desk in the corner of his living room, he turned it on to see that his security camera program that he had installed into the room was flashing to show there were updates with videos that were recorded. Originally he had gotten the cameras installed in the apartment before he had shown Y/N the place. He had wanted to keep all the photography supplies safe while he left it empty when working on it. The program was installed on a computer he had in here and also in the apartment with August. Now, he didn’t regret at all having the security cameras put in.

Clicking open the videos, he opened one that faced the doorway, watching the video of Y/N breaking into the apartment. Smirking, he clicked ahead a few videos to see the two of them having sex over by the couch and he paused the video to look over it closely. A wicked smile pressed in over his lips as he made sure that he saved the data to his computer. Skimming through the video, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he watched the video of them together and he licked his lips uneasily.

Looking over his shoulder, he made sure he was still alone before clicking on the camera that he had in his bedroom seeing that she was still sleeping. Grinning, he logged out of his computer after making sure that the cameras were still running and moved back toward the bedroom. Reaching for his point and shoot camera from the dresser he moved forward and started taking photos of her. It was surprising that the flash on his camera wasn’t waking her up, but it didn’t bother him any.

Reaching for the sheets from over her body, he whipped them back and exposed her naked body to his sight. Biting into his bottom lip, he took a moment to appreciate the sight before taking a few more photos of her on the camera before setting it down. Moving toward the security camera that was hidden in his bedroom, he made sure that it was pointing near his bed before carefully moving in over the bed. Crawling in over her, Max grabbed a hold of her thighs and softly pushed them apart with his rough grip. It was amazing how tired she was that his movements weren’t even waking her up at this point, but for some reason it turned him on all the more.

Watching her closely, he reached down with his hand to caress over his length to get his body hard again and it didn’t take long. It was already partially hardened from seeing the videos of the two of them together earlier. Pushing her hips up against him, he could feel her slightly moving beneath him alerting him to the fact that she may have started to wake up before he snapped his hips forward, sinking his entire length into her again. A heavy cry escaped her lips as her eyes snapped open, his hand covering her mouth to keep her quiet while he started to pound into her already sensitive body.

“Sh…” Max hushed her, lowering his forehead against hers while he watched her eyes close and her head rest back against the pillows as his hips moved over her at bruising pace. Her muffled whimpers were felt against his hand until he pulled it away from her mouth and replaced it with his lips. His eyes looked in the direction of the camera before smirking proudly as he felt her nails biting into his skin. “You like my cock inside of you?”

“Yes,” she cried against his skin as the slapping sounds continued to fill the room while his bed creaked with the forcefulness that his body made over hers. The headboard slammed up against the wall and he growled when he felt her nails breaking the skin over his back. “Max.”

“You want me to fuck you harder?” Max growled against her lips as she nodded desperately. Snapping his hips forward again and again, Max focused on the motions that made her respond the most to him. Grunting against her skin, Max bit into her flesh and left the marks to show ownership that he had over her. “Huh?”

“Max…” she purred against his lips, kissing him over and over again before he pulled his lips away from hers to lower his head down to twirl his tongue around her nipple. Suctioning over the skin, he could hear her moan and cling to him tightly.

“Am I the best you’ve ever had?” Max curled his hips in harder against her and she nodded, but he thrust his length harder into her wanting an answer. This was a moment he wanted to keep forever and the video would definitely be one he’d never get rid of. “Say it…”

“Yes,” she nodded trying to lift her head to watch him, but he reached up to pin her down against the bed, slamming her hands down into the mattress while squeezing over her wrists. Tipping in closer, his teeth nipped at her jawline and he continued moving over her.

He moved his hips over her until she hit her orgasm and it caused a rippling splash of sensations to fill his body. Pulling his hips away when he felt his body start to twitch inside of her, he watched his seed spill out over her inner thigh. His groans pressed in over the side of her neck as he still kept a firm hold of her wrists against the bed. A deep laugh escaped his lips as he clung to her and looked to the camera again. It made him so happy to know that he was able to capture the two times that they had sex together and that he would be able to keep it forever.

Letting go of her wrist with his right hand, he reached down to swipe his thumb in over the mess that he had caused over her flawless skin. Going to move for a Kleenex, he felt her hand grabbing a tight hold of his wrist before pulling it back to take his fingers between her lips to clean the mess off herself. Grinning, he tipped down to meet her lips in a kiss, tasting himself against the motion and he was extremely thankful that she forgave him for what he did. Most people would have never taken him back, but he was so happy to actually have her in his life. She was perfect for him and he was never going to let her go.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max deals with being alone for a few days and then sneaks into the OC's home when she's asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone asked me to make Max a bit creepier for one of my scenes, so that's what I was attempting here to an extant.

Getting up from his computer chair, Max moved for the things he had printed out. Carefully setting them in the box he had prepared, he took a final look to make sure he had everything before reaching for his button down shirt that he had over the side of the couch. Pulling the material up over his arms, he left it unbuttoned and grabbed a tight hold of the box before moving out into the hallway. Making sure that no one was there when he reached his destination; he made his way through the passageways behind the walls and to his storage room. Setting the box down on top of his work desk, he pulled out what he had printed out along with some scissors and started cutting into the photo paper.

Reaching for some tape, he reached up to press the photos that he had cut out against the wall. Taking a step back after he had put up some of the photos, he looked at the back wall of the room that he had filled with the photos of Y/N that he had taken. Looking it over, a smirk pressed in over his lips when he took a look at the woman that he could call his. Many of the photos that he had taken of her covered the wall and he was in awe of his collage.

Reaching for the chair at the corner of the room, he set it down in front of the wall so that he could take a look over his work. Looking it over carefully, he found himself proud. Y/N was his now. After what had happened the other night, he knew that she belonged to him and the idea completely excited him. The other night when Y/N had woken up after their night together, they really hadn’t talked much about what had happened previously. They didn’t talk much in general after that night. Not about their fight, or her moving in with him or even him attacking Christian. Unfortunately, she had a few days where she would have to be working on a big project, so they didn’t get to be together for quite some time after that day. While she was away, he decided to make the collage of her. Something that he could appreciate while she was gone and to himself when he came back behind the walls. A reminder of what he had beyond the walls to look forward to.

Biting into his bottom lip, he leaned back in the chair and scanned over the photos he had taken of her lying naked in his bed and he smiled. Reaching down, he started palming himself through his pants remembering what it was like to be inside of her. Touching her. Having her body contracting around his while they had sex. The idea never left his mind much. All he could think about recently was how they had sex together those two times. Several times he had already re-watched the tapes that he had gotten from the security cameras, but it didn’t feel like enough. He was craving touching her again and being inside of her so bad.

Stopping on a photo of her sprawled out on the bed, he dragged his fingers over his length through the material of his jeans and took the time to think about her touching him. As well as the way that she would call out his name when he was inside of her. The sensation of his pants clinging tightly to his body was felt and he let out a wince. Quickly popping open the button, Max dipped his hand beneath the material of his jeans and wrapped his palm around the shaft of his cock. Caressing over it slowly, he slid his tongue in over his bottom lip and slid further down in the chair he was in. Spreading his legs apart gave him an easier access to his body, causing a rumble of a groan to fall from his lips.

The sound of his phone ringing brought him out of his thoughts as he pulled his hand from his pants and pulled out his cell phone. Looking at the screen, he could see that it was Y/N calling him and he smiled.

“Hello beautiful. I was just thinking about you,” Max answered the phone with a thick slur as he used his free hand to dip it back under his jeans again to start teasing and palming over his length. “How’s the project going?”

“I actually finished early and got to come home a day early,” Y/N spoke up on the other end and Max’s interest perked up when she said that. Sitting up straighter in the chair, he could feel his heart hammering in his body, he needed to see her. “I’m exhausted though.”

“You want me to come over?” Max suggested and he could hear her yawning on the other end of the phone. “I can come and help you get relaxed back in your home again.”

“As nice as that sounds, I am really tired Max. I’m just gonna take a couple of sleeping pills and get some rest. I didn’t sleep at all over the period of time I was on sight. For some reason I couldn’t turn my mind off,” she replied and he let out a disappointed breath, sliding back into the chair again. Max pushed the zipper down in his pants and reached to pull himself free from the confines of the restrictive material. Pumping his hand over his swollen erection, he let out a muted groan as looked over the photos on his wall. “You can come over in the morning though…”

“You couldn’t sleep because you had me on your mind, right?” Max teased and heard her laugh at his response. He actually hoped that was the case because all that he could think about was her. It kept him up at night as well.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” she flirted back and he bit into his bottom lip as he closed his eyes, trying to picture that it was her touching him as she spoke to him over the phone. “Have you been keeping busy since I’ve been gone?”

“Oh, yeah. Working on some of my…hobbies,” Max breathed out heavily as he began arching his hips up into his closed fist, eager to finish while he was still on the phone with her. “It’s been miserable without you though…”

“It hasn’t been that long,” she pointed out and Max let out an involuntary hiss that she clearly heard. “You okay?”

“Oh yeah, just working hard,” he retorted with a half laugh, looking to see the pre-cum that started seeping from his tip. Sliding his thumb over the slit, he slicked it down his body and started jerking himself harder than before. “I can’t wait to see you.”

“I can’t wait to see you too,” she exclaimed with a heavy yawn and he felt his hips shooting up from the chair when his orgasm shattered through him. He bit into his bottom lip heavily and tried to stifle his pleasured sounds while she started talking on the line about the photoshoot. Not much of it was heard as the thick lines of his cum spilled out in over his naked lower abdomen and chest. When he finished, he looked down at the mess he had made and let out a heavy sound. “Are you sure you are okay?”

“Oh yeah, keep talking,” Max suggested, getting up from the chair and moving across the room to the box of Kleenex that he had. Cleaning his body off, he tossed the tissue in the garbage and moved over to the other end of the room to leave his work room. When she yawned again and stopped talking, he smiled. “You need to go to bed love?”

“I think so,” a large yawn escaped her lips over the phone and he reached up with his free hand to brush his fingers through his messy hair.

“Alright, well I will let you go and see you in the morning,” Max moved back into his apartment and shut the door. Looking around his apartment, he wished that she would have just moved in with him. He wanted to see her so damn much. “I love you.”

“Yeah, you too,” she responded and Max felt his chest tightening when they hung up. He had no problems in telling her that he loved her. He had done it every time they had spoken while she was away. The only problem was that she was responding that way every time. Either with a ‘thank you’ or a ‘you too’. Never really saying that she loved him. “Goodnight Max.”

Hanging up the phone, Max looked to his computer again and saw that he had left up one of the videos that he had from his security camera. The apartment was so empty and lonely and all he could think about was her telling him that she couldn’t wait to see him too. He knew that she had told him no in coming over, but he just needed to see her.

* * *

  
Quickly rushing to the door to Y/N’s apartment building, Max moved inside and looked around. Pulling down the hood on his jacket, he started moving up the stairs toward her room and knew that he wanted to surprise her. When he had gotten to her place he had waited for someone to come home before sneaking in. Looking around the hallways, he made sure he was alone before reaching out to softly tap at the door. The lack of a response told him that she had fallen asleep already so he moved for the spare key that she had put in the plant.

Turning the lock, he pushed open the door slightly before returning the key and moving into the apartment. Carefully closing the door, he looked to see that Y/N was on her bed sleeping and smiled. Locking the door behind him, he moved further into the room and took a look around to see that her bags were still out. She was clearly too tired to put her things away after she had called him.

There was a light flashing on her cell phone that caught his attention when he saw it charging on her kitchen counter. Moving across the apartment very slowly, he made sure not to make any noise when he reached for her phone. Opening up her text messages, he saw that her mom was one of the last people that she had written. In it they were having a conversation about living in New York and the event she was doing for work. Scrolling up further into the past texts, Max found her talking about him to her mother. It was only a few texts, but it was her telling her mother than she had started dating someone and sent a photo of the two of them together to show her mom what he had looked like. She was already telling her mother about him and it excited him to know that she was already telling her family that they were official.

Backing out of the conversation, he opened the texts she had with Christian and saw that they were talking about him in it quite extensively. In their texts Christian had asked her about sex with him, clearly showing that she had told Christian that Max had sex with her. Christian had asked her how it was and when she responded really good, Max could feel a smile pressing in over the corners of his lips. He looked to her sleeping again before looking back to the texts only to see that she had said he also fucked really hard. The text followed up with saying that it wasn’t a bad thing; it was good, just really hard.

Biting into his bottom lip again, he backed out of her text messages and set her phone back down. Next to the phone was a bottle of pills and he looked over what she had. It was clearly the sleeping pills that she had taken after talking with him. It wasn’t as strong as what he would usually give August, but if she took a few of them, he knew she would be out of it for quite some time.

Moving over to the side of her bed, he reached for her blankets and took a moment to look her over when he pulled them back. She was sleeping in her panties and a spaghetti string tank top. Reaching for his hoodie, he pulled it from his body before ridding himself of the rest of his clothes. Reaching down, he caressed over his length when he looked at her and out of the corner of his eyes could see that she had a scarf sitting on top of her dresser. Thinking it over, he reached for the scarf and moved over toward the bed. Grabbing her hands, he wrapped it carefully around her wrists before reaching up to tie her to the bedframe. Her body moved slightly and he stopped to check to see if she was waking up. When she simply just adjusted on the bed, he smiled and reached below her tank top to caress her breast softly in his large hand. He missed being with her so much and touching her. It felt amazing to have her warm flesh against his again.

Pushing the material up her body, he tipped in closer to her and teased his mouth in over her breast, twisting his tongue around the nipple before sucking softly over the flesh. When she released a sigh, he lifted his head up and could see that she was still sleeping and moved down to press her panties aside. Sliding his fingertips over her folds, he could feel her tremble against his touch, but still didn’t wake up.

Pulling his fingers up, he sucked over them softly before reaching down to press the tips of his fingers over her opening. Tugging softly on one of her thighs, he pulled it slightly aside before pushing his fingertips into her warmth. A whimper had escaped her throat showing that her body was reacting to his, even if she wasn’t awake yet. The walls of her body were tight as he focused on trying to open her up for him. The longer he pumped his fingertips into her, the more he could feel her body getting wet for him.

“Mmm,” he groaned when he removed his fingers and lifted them to his lips to suck over them. Lapping up the taste of her on his fingers, he looked her over and debated how to go forward with what he was about to do.

Carefully turning her on her side, he moved behind her and lifted her leg up over his thigh. Spitting into his hand, he reached down to caress it over his length before moving in to press the tip of his body up against her entrance. Pushing his hips up, he felt her body parting for him slowly. Her body enveloping his cock as he pushed his hips forward. Taking a moment to wait, he groaned uneasily and reached for her leg to pull it in over him further. Her warmth parted for him, allowing him to fill her completely and he nestled his nose against the back of her neck, trying to keep his focus and not cum immediately. He had wanted her so bad and missed her so badly, that the instant contact within her tight walls had caused his body to tighten up. Starting to thrust into her over and over again after getting his focused, he could hear the sounds she started to make, clearly reacting to him inside of her and he paused to see if she was waking up. When he still felt her body somewhat heavy against his, he grabbed a tighter hold of her hips and slammed forward.  After a few more pumps inside of her, he could feel her body tensing up and alerted him that she was waking up.

She let out a scared sound when she woke up and started tugging on her wrists when he reached up to press his hand in over her lips to silence her before she could scream. Her breathing was erratic as he turned her head to look at him.

“It’s just me…” he hushed her and he could see her eyes widening as he continued to plow into her, making her let out sounds against his hand. Cautiously pulling his hand away from her lips, he watched her let out a tight breath before glaring at him. Winces escaped her parted lips with every rough thrust he made inside of her.

“What the fuck Max?” she snapped at him and he paused his movements inside of her, seeing the anger that pressed in over her features. “Waking up with my hands tied and someone fucking me from behind…I thought I was being raped by someone…”

“I was trying to surprise you,” Max stammered and he pulled away from her, getting up on his knees as she turned over onto her back. His heart was pounding inside of his chest and he could see her tugging at the material of the scarf wrapped around her wrists. “You want me to stop?”

Her eyes looked to him and he could tell that she was initially uncomfortable with the idea, but he could see that her thighs were trembling. Her mind may have not liked the idea at first, but her body certainly liked it. Her head shook and he smiled, moving in over to reach for her panties and pull them off completely. Tossing them aside, he lifted her hips up closer to him before slamming himself back inside of her. Her cries were muffled against his mouth when he kissed over her lips and could hear the bed slamming and creaking with his movements.

“Max…” she bit into his bottom lip and let out a cry when he pulled away. Max reached for her hips and turned her over onto her stomach. His hand braced into the center of her shoulders while she felt the tug of the scarf that was wrapped around her wrists. His free hand grasped at her hip to pull her up to him when he thrust his length back into her. Her body squeezed around his in the position they were in and she could feel his groan against the side of her neck. A cry escaped her lips when she rocked her hips back to him, trying to get him to move when he was still behind her. “Please…”

“And you were acting like you hated it…” Max slurred against her ear, biting into her earlobe before reaching his hands up to headboard. Placing his knees firmly beside her body, he used the headboard to help thrust his body heavily into her. The heavy smacking sounds their bodies made against each other filled the room and the sensation of a line of sweat dripping from his brow was felt. “I missed you so much baby.”

“Max,” she purred out his name and he released the headboard after hearing the winces that she was releasing from his movements. Palming over her cheeks, he squeezed and dug his fingertips into them as he continued his plunging movements deep within her. How badly he wished to have his camera with him right now. He would have loved to capture the sight of her like this. The sight of his cock filling her and pulling out of her from behind. It was quite the sight and he enjoyed it. After a few minutes of keeping up the speed he had behind her, he could feel her body tensing around his and he fell forward over her back. Clutching at the sheets, he could hear her cries filling the air alerting him to her release and he could feel his cock twitching inside of her. Lowering his lips over the side of her neck, he suctioned over her skin and smacked up against her a few more times before groaning out heavily when he felt his release approaching. Rocking into her harder and harder, a grunt filled the air when he trembled over her and filled her with his seed. Gripping her hair with his hand, he pulled her head back and met her lips in a long kiss until he heard her gasp against his lips. “Max! Get off!”

“What?” Max quickly moved from her and his body pulled away from hers. He could see his seed spilling from her body as he watched her squirming before him on the bed. Her wrists tugged at the scarf and he reached out undo the knot that he had on it. “What’s wrong?”

Watching her closely, he could see her reach down between her legs to collect some of his cum over her fingertips and she looked over her shoulder at him, a glare pressing in over her features when he felt his heart skip a beat. She scrambled for her nightstand and pulled open the drawer and he could see her grabbing a pack of pills before popping one of them out. She swallowed it down quickly and he let out a hesitant laugh.  

“What did…” Max had begun to speak only to feel the firm smack of her hand across the side of his face making him fall back onto his bottom on her bed. The initial hit had shocked him as he reached up to touch his face, feeling the burn filling the whole cheek. “What was that for?”

“What was that for? First things first, you fucking came in me,” she blurt out and he stared out at her from where she standing beside the bed. His eyes were clearly confused and she could feel her body trembling as she looked him over. While her body very much enjoyed what happened, she was still very confused how he had ended up in her apartment and why he had started fucking her like that. “How did you get in here Max? You don’t have a key…”

“I’m sorry, I just…I got caught up in how everything felt. I missed you so much,” Max insisted, his voice cracking as he watched her reach for a robe that was over her dresser and he didn’t know how to explain how he got in there. “I’m sorry, I just wanted to be with you so bad that I just…”

“How did you get in here Max?” she demanded an answer and he inhaled heavily.

“I own an apartment building. You don’t think I’ve learned how to deal with a few locked doors when someone locks themselves out?” Max tried to convince her and he could see her eyes still seeming upset with him. He wasn’t about to spill his guts that he knew where she kept the spare key. “I’m sorry; I just thought that surprising you…”

“How long were you fucking me before I woke up?” she whispered and he gulped down uneasily when she put it like that. “How long?”

“Not long,” Max’s throat went dry, when he reached up to touch at his raw cheek again. Rubbing at the flesh, he could see her looking him over before sighing and moving to sit on the edge of the bed. “I’m sorry for scaring you.”

“Do you like that kind of thing? Someone being asleep while you fuck them? That’s the second time you’ve started sex off like that,” she spoke up and Max could feel his heart starting to pound. The hairs on his arms stood up and he tried to think of how to answer that. “Be honest with me…”

“I…” he was thinking of a lie to say and when she looked back at him with her bright eyes, he cleared his throat and nodded. “Yes...”

“So if I hadn’t woke up,” she began and Max’s mouth dropped open. His head shook and she felt him scooting in closer to her to try and touch her, but she pulled from him.

“I was attempting to wake you up; I just wanted to surprise you because I missed you. All I could think about was you and…” Max caressed his large palms in over her shoulders before pressing his lips over her jawline, suctioning over the soft flesh as he deposited kisses over the heated flesh. “It’s not like I have a thing for having sex with women while they are sleeping so they don’t know I was here the next morning…”

“Max…” she sighed, her head tilting to the side to allow him better access at her neck while he kissed over her neck. A shuddering chill pressed in over her as he hit a certain spot that was behind her earlobe and he smiled. “I missed you too, you just scared me.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” he cupped her jaw in his hand and turned her to stare out at him. When she moved forward to meet his lips in a kiss, he teased his tongue over her sensitive flesh and heard her let out a heavy breath.

“Just don’t tie me up like that again when I’m asleep. Anything else, if that’s what you like…that’s fine,” she began in an unsure tone against his lips and he smirked, reaching up to cup her face in his rough hands tenderly. “Maybe no more breaking into my apartment either, okay?”

“Oh, it’s the only time,” Max lied with a bright smile moving forward to wrap his arms around her shoulders tightly. When she rest against the center of his chest, he lowered his chin down to rest his jaw softly against the top of her head. Caressing his fingertips through her hair in a soothing manner, he smiled and thought about the previous times breaking into her apartment. “I swear.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max and the OC (reader) have a heated discussion that leads to a rather uncomfortable outcome for Max.

Max let out a small groan when he felt a shift in the bed beside him, awakening him from his sleep. Raising his head, he could see Y/N getting up from the bed. A small groan fell from his lips when he looked over her naked form, appreciating the fact that they had slept together again last night to the point of her actually getting her clothes off of her. Max watched her reach for her clothes and a heavy sigh fell from his lips. Yawning, Max could see her look back at him after she pulled her panties and tank top on and he smiled, but something seemed different in the way that she was looking at him. Pulling up slowly in the bed, he watched her as she moved across the apartment toward her bathroom and disappeared inside of it.

Looking around, Max could see that his clothes were still scattered around the floor and he slowly threw his legs over the side of the bed. Stretching out, he could hear the sound of the bathroom door opening and watched Y/N walking over toward the counter to look at her phone.

Getting up slowly, Max moved in behind where she was standing and wrapped his arms around her tightly. His nose nestled against the side of her neck and he cherished the feeling of her before him. He had missed her so much in the time that she was gone that he was just so happy to have her back.

“Good morning beautiful,” he whispered in her ear and felt her tense up when he pressed a kiss against the side of her neck. Feathering over it with kisses, he heard her let out a confused sound and she looked back at him over her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“Did you go through my phone last night?” she muttered and Max let out a small laugh. “I’m serious Max, did you?”

“Of course not,” Max denied it and could see that she was still skeptical. What had he done when looking at her phone last night that would have left her to know that he looked at it? “Why would you think something like that?”

“The text messages were left open and I know that wasn’t something that I had up,” she informed him with an uneasy tone as his lips started to press over her jawline again. When he tongue slid in over her jawline, she seemed to tense up. Max was desperately trying to get her to change the subject with his soft kisses and it was clearly not working. “Max, I’m asking you to be honest with me.”

“I’m being honest with you,” Max stayed true to his side of the story. He knew that he was lying, he knew he had a hard time lying to her, but he wasn’t about to admit to the things that he had done the night before. “Y/N, you know I have a hard time when it comes to lies around you. I swear I wasn’t on your phone. Maybe you left it open last night when you were tired.”

There was a silence that pressed between them as she moved out of his arms and toward the kitchen bar that was in the center of the room. She braced herself up on her hands and Max could tell that she was acting differently toward him.

“Listen, I love you,” Max breathed out, moving in behind her to reach out to trace his fingertips up and over her arms. He caressed over her shoulders and heard her let out a long sigh. “I love you so much.”

Nothing was said on her end as he leaned forward and brushed his lips over the back of her shoulder. His lips traveled wet lines over her skin as his hands reached down to brace over her hips. He wished that for once she would tell him that she loved him. It was something he had said so many times to her, but she had yet to say it. It was hard for him to think that she didn’t feel the same way for him. Hell, she was the first person to admit her feelings for him and now that he was telling her how much he cared for her, she rarely had a response.

“God, you are so beautiful,” he reached up to brush her hair away from her neck and he could feel her head tipping to the side when his lips pressed long lines over skin. “I don’t know how I got so lucky to have you in my life.”

Nipping at her jawline, he felt her turn in to kiss him and he began to buck his hips up from behind her, grinding his naked body against hers through the material of her panties. A small whimper escaped her lips when his tongue slid out against hers. Reaching down, he pushed aside the material of her panties and trailed his fingertips over her slick folds causing a small gasp to escape her lips.

“Max,” she finally spoke up, but let out a sharp wince when he pushed his fingers inside of her. She fell forward, grasping the counter while his lips continued their wet trail over neck. “I don’t know if I’m really up for this.”

“Your body feels like it is,” Max informed her as he felt her wetness surrounding his fingers. “You’re tense. I can make you relax baby…”

“Max,” she breathed out as he grabbed a hold of her hips and within a moment filled her completely with his length. Gasping out, she fell forward against the counter of the bar and heard his groan fill the room. His body filled her to the brim and she hadn’t expected him to be so swift about everything. “God…”

“Ah, you feel so good,” Max’s hips started to slowly thrust back and forth behind her, the sounds of their skin smacking up against each other filling the air. Reaching out, he grabbed a tight hold of her hands that were sprawled out over the counter and held to them tightly. Squeezing his fingers around hers, he leaned further in over her and started pounding into her. It wasn’t something that he was trying to draw out or lengthen, it was just a quick morning romp and he knew he wouldn’t last long. “I love you so much baby.”

Her gasps and soft whimpers began to fill the air as he smacked up against her from behind. His thrusts were sloppy and hard, but when he released one of her hands to reach between them in search of her clitoris, she still cried out his name.

“That’s right baby, cum with me,” Max groaned heavily in her ear, his fingers rubbing swiftly against the sensitive bud in search of getting her to her release. Her body pushed up and away from him when he heard her cry out and felt her body squeezing around him alerting him to her release. “That’s it…God…”

Max continued his powerful thrusts behind her until he felt his body start to twitch inside of her. Slowing his movements, he let her body milk him completely as he came inside of her. Her breathing was loud as her upper half laid over the counter and he leaned forward to press soft kisses over the side of her neck. Their bodies were both soaked and he tried to catch his breath above her. Pulling back slowly, he felt some of his release dripping down his body and his leg. Cussing, he reached for a napkin to clean up what had spilled and looked to her adjusting her panties. Grabbing another napkin, he tried to help her clean herself off, but she shook her head and took the napkin to do it herself.

“I need to take a shower anyways, I have a meeting for work,” she informed him and went to walk away until Max grabbed a hold of her hand to pull her back to him. Max cupped her face in his hands lovingly and moved forward to kiss her again and again.

“Maybe you can stay home today. Reschedule?” Max suggested with a small smile, reaching up to brush her hair out of her face. “I’ve missed you and…”

“You know I can’t do that,” she pointed out with a heavy sigh and he rest his forehead up against hers. “I’m sorry.”

Watching her closely, Max leaned back against the counters and watched her start to head for the bathroom, “Do you think you are ever going to tell me you love me too?”

“What?” she stopped before hitting the bathroom and looked back at him. “Why would you ask that?”

“I just…I thought you would love me by now,” Max stated nonchalantly, trying to get her to admit it to him somehow. “I’ve been trying so hard to get you to like me. I’ve been trying to do everything to prove how much I care for you and…”

“How many people have you said I love you to?” she questioned and Max let out a nervous breath. He laughed uncomfortably and she folded her arms out in front of her chest. “Or how about this one, how many serious relationships have you been in?”

“A few, why does it matter?” Max blurted out, feeling his cheeks filling with warmth as she spoke to him like she was annoyed with him. “I told you, I never really had a relationship that mattered. Maybe one or two, but something bad always happened. The first girl I had a serious relationship was when I was young and August…he just…I don’t get the point of this…”

“But you’ve told girls you’ve loved them, right? Way more than one or two?” she stated with a firm expression and Max tossed his hands up. “You thought you were in love with Juliet not even a month or so ago.”

“That was confusion on my part,” Max insisted, not knowing where she was going with the conversation. “I don’t get what you are trying to say here.”

“It’s easy for you to say I love you to someone. You told me yourself that you fall fast for someone who is being nice to you. So if someone is nice to you, you say you love them,” she pointed out and Max’s nose wrinkled in response. “I’ve had maybe one or two serious relationships in my life beyond you. In which I only said I love you once.”

“Okay?” Max sounded confused and he shrugged his shoulders. Max was uncomfortable with where the conversation was headed. He was never good with confrontations like this. “I’m failing to miss the point here. When I tell you that I love you, I mean it.”

“I don’t know that yet,” she honestly told him with an uneasiness in her tone. “I know that you care about me. You do. I know that without a doubt. I know I mean a lot to you, but do you love me? I’m not exactly so sure.”

“What?” Max laughed uneasily, if anything he thought he loved her too much. He didn’t understand where she was coming from. “I love you. I love you very much.”

“I think that’s what you believe,” she threw her hands up and shrugged. “Maybe it’s an obsession, maybe not, I don’t know. It may just be the whole infatuation with something new taking place. I just take my feelings seriously. When I love, I love with everything that is inside of me. Love is very important to me. I just want to know that I have a serious thing going here before I decide to jump head first in and just say I love you.”

“I am confused,” Max frowned, not sure of what to say. “Have I done something to act as if I don’t love you?”

“There’s been some…things,” she answered and he found himself shocked with what she was saying. “Sometimes I feel like I’m more of a possession of yours. Not so much someone you love.”

“Give me an example,” Max demanded, not believing what she was telling him.

“The way you have sex doesn’t feel like someone who loves someone,” she swiftly replied and Max shifted uncomfortably at her response. “It’s really hard and doesn’t feel at all like someone who loves someone.”

“I told you, I’m just rough,” he scrambled to explain the way that he was and he lowered his head. “You told me that in the beginning that it was alright. I was worried and you told me…”

“I know what I told you,” she interrupted him and he felt embarrassed by the comment. “It’s not just that Max, there are a lot of things that make me feel that way.”

“This is unbelievable,” Max snorted, folding his arms in front of his chest as he leaned back against her cabinets again. “I’m fucking head over heels in love with you and I’m getting lectured about viewing you as a possession?”

“What happens when the next person comes along and is nice to you? What happens when they are prettier than I am? What happens if Juliet comes to you and tells you that she made a mistake. That she wants to be with you?” Y/N rambled on and Max shook his head, still annoyed that this was even a conversation they were having.

“No one….has ever treated me like you do. You make me feel like I’m important. You make me feel like I’m meant to be here. I feel like a real person when I’m with you. Other people, I was just good to have around when the time was right,” Max stated with a small growl as he thought back to previous women in his life. “I don’t get close to people. Before you, it had been over a year since I actually had sex with someone. I used to have sex with women to try and fill some kind of void of wanting to be loved, but it only made me feel worse. I always wanted to be loved and until I was with you, I never felt that way. What I thought Juliet was…is what you have been this whole time. When she came to me a while ago and kissed me…”

“She kissed you?” Y/N retorted with a disgusted sound and Max tilted his head to the side. “When?”

“After our fight when I asked you to move in. She came in and kissed me…I told her to piss off,” Max answered truthfully and he could see the doubt in her eyes. “I’m not lying to you Y/N, Juliet means nothing to me. All she is to me is a ridiculous obsession of mine from the past. You…you are my future.”

“I’m sure you just easily told her to piss off…” her eyes rolled and Max let out an annoyed sound. “That’s why you told me about it right?”

“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t see the point in it. You were pissed at me to begin with,” Max assured her, throwing his hands up again. He was lost in what he was supposed to say and do here. “I turned her away and then everything else happened between us.”

“Oh, right…” she still clearly didn’t believe him and Max stammered to find words. His jaw clenched, his brows tightening as he glared out at her.

“Listen, one…jealousy is cute on you, but not when you are being ignorant,” Max hissed back at her and he could see her staring out at him angrily. “Two, I could easily prove to you that I turned her away.”

“And how is that?” she snapped as Max moved toward the side of the bed to reach for his boxer briefs to pull them on. When he turned to her, he could see that she was still waiting on his answer.

“Because I have cameras rigged up in the apartment. I wasn’t living in there so I wanted to make sure that no one stole the photography equipment. I just left them there when I did actually start staying there for safety purposes,” Max truthfully responded and he could see her eyes flashing over with something when she thought of them having sex in his apartment. “You Y/N, you are the only person I have something for. There are no other women in my life.”

“Were you ever going to tell me that you had cameras in your apartment or was this only brought up because you had to prove to me that you were right?” she snapped and Max moved closer toward her to try and reach out to touch her, but she pulled away. “Do you have the videos of us having sex in your apartment?”

“I do,” Max nodded and she let out a hesitant sound, but he shrugged. “We’ve taken photos of each other naked. You have taken photos of me jacking off while I took photos of you touching yourself. You are really going to get mad at me over a video of us having sex?”

“I think we need some space from each other for a couple,” she informed him and Max made a nervous sound. “I need to think about things.”

“We just spent several days apart. I’m not the type of person that wants to just put things on hold Y/N. I want to start our life together. I want us to be together. I have wasted my entire life being lonely and focusing on those that didn’t care for me. Now I know what I want and I don’t want to waste time,” Max tried to reach for her again and he saw her pull away again. It was like she was disgusted by his touch and he got extremely upset seeing her acting like she was. His heart was pounding inside of his chest making him begin to softly shake. “I don’t understand why you are being such a bitch to me. I did nothing to deserve it. You’ve never been a bitch to me and…”

The sound of a smack filled the room as he tensed up and felt the side of his face raw with her smack. His head had turned with the hit and he let out a tense sound from the ache of the hit. Looking to her, his eyes narrowed out at her and he bit into his bottom lip, “you don’t get to call me names Max…”

“You’re right, I apologize,” Max tried to keep his cool as he felt his heart pounding inside of his chest. It was clear that he had upset her by calling her a bitch, but at the moment he felt like she honestly was being one. “I’m sorry.”

“Leave,” she ordered and Max felt his heart begin to pound inside of his chest harder. “Please, just leave.”

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Max tried to plead with her and she held her hands up in the air. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m really fucking sorry.”

“I need some space for a couple Max, alright?” she demanded, pointing toward her door and he began to panic. “Please, leave.”

“I don’t know what I did, but I’m sorry. Okay? Just please, I don’t what I’ve done, but whatever it is, I will try to be better, just please…” Max watched her move over toward his pile of clothes and pick them up. A grunt escaped his lips when he felt her shoving the pile of clothes into his chest. Stumbling he could feel her shoving him toward the door and he let out small winces as she did it. “I don’t know what I did wrong!”

“I’m not saying you did anything wrong. I just need some time away from you,” she informed him, pushing open the door and shoving him out into the hallway. Max’s face looked miserable and he was clearly confused as can be. “I just need time to think about things. We will still talk in a few days, I just…”

“Please don’t do this, you know I don’t handle situations like this well,” Max pleaded with her and she still clutched onto the door while he held his clothes in his hands. The fact that she shoved him out into the hallway while he was in his boxer briefs was embarrassing enough as it was. “You don’t have to say I love you. I won’t mention it again, I swear…”

“Please leave Max,” she repeated her earlier words, but he still stood before her. His eyes were tearing over and she could see him searching for words to say. “Leave!”

“I might hurt myself,” Max pointed out when she looked to him with a glare and he shrugged his shoulders. A grunt escaped his lips when he felt her shoving into the center of his chest harder than she had before. “You know me. I guarantee you I’m going to hurt myself if you leave it like this.”

“You can’t blame me for that,” she reached up to shove into his chest again to get him further down the hallway. “How dare you even threaten me with that!”

“I messed up, okay. I know I did, but please…” Max’s voice was cracking as he watched someone from her hallway moving out to see them together, but he didn’t care. At this point he was crying and he could see that she was getting embarrassed. “I’m sorry. Just please don’t toss me aside. I don’t know what I did…”

“Please stop,” she begged and she looked to the person that was watching them. Max continued to cry and she lowered her head. “Please stop and leave.”

“You told me that you would always understand and be there for me. What has changed?” Max stammered trying to make things right and he could see that her face was turning red from the embarrassment of her neighbor seeing them out in the hallway with him crying. “Y/N…please.”

“Stop making me out to be the bad guy here,” she ordered and Max could feel the lump in his throat growing and he tried to step closer to her, but she held her hands up to get him to stay away from her.

“I just don’t understand what I did wrong in telling you that I love you,” Max restated feeling a crushing sensation in his chest and he could see her face getting redder. “Please…please…I’m begging you…”

“Max,” she let out an uncomfortable sound when another one of her neighbors walked out into the hall to see what the commotion was about. Reaching for his arm, she tugged him back toward apartment and slammed the door shut. “Fine, if you won’t leave…I will.”

“Baby, please…” Max watched her reaching for her clothes and she started pulling them on quickly. “Just tell me what I did wrong.”

“I never said we were breaking up! You are always assuming the worst. You are always getting jealous. You are snooping into things and breaking into my apartment,” she yelled and he could see that he had upset her more than he had planned to. “I care about you Max, but threatening me that you are going to hurt yourself because I said I needed some space? Do you know how fucked up that is?”

“I have no one in my life. I’m not like you. I can’t just go up to someone and then boom, they are instantly my friend. I’m a freak. If I don’t have you, I have no one,” Max insisted, his deep voice continuing to get raspier as he spoke. “I have nothing if I don’t have you.”

“And yet you still don’t tell me things,” she reminded him and Max let out a nervous sound. “I’ve given you every opportunity to tell me what you’ve done. What you are scared to tell me, yet you haven’t. If you really loved me, you would be open to these things Max. You would let me in. You would let me know who you really are.”

“I’m scared to,” Max finally yelled back at her, dropping his clothes on the floor. His hands clenched at his side and she stepped back when he finally raised his voice to her. The whole time he had tried to stay quiet in their fight, but this was the first time that he had actually screamed back at her. “I am a fucking freak! I have done things that are awful. Things that people would find disgusting. You, you see me as someone different. I don’t want you to see who I am. What I’ve done. In the last few months, I’ve stopped being who I was. I have changed for you. Why do I have to go back to that? Why do I have to open myself up back to what I was?! I can’t lose you.”

“Yet that’s what you are letting happen,” she reached for her jacket and pulled it over her body after she had gotten dressed. “I’m leaving and I’d like for you to be gone when I get back. Until you can fully be yourself around me…I can’t…I just can’t be with someone who is always hiding something from me. That’s not a relationship.”

There was a silence that filled the room and she waited for him to say something and he looked up at her with his teary eyes, “I was everything that August has told you I am. I am just someone different now. I don’t want to get into who I used to be. I want to focus on who I am now.”

“I’m done with this,” she reached for her keys and Max reached out to try and grab her wrist to stop her from leaving. “Let go Max.”

“I swear to God, if you walk out that door, I’m going to hurt myself,” Max warned her and she glared out at him, her fingers roughly pulling his hand from her wrist before heading toward the door. “Y/N…”

“I don’t care,” she muttered with a shrug of her shoulders and her words hit him harder than he thought they ever could. It felt like he had just gotten kicked in the gut as she headed toward the door. “I’m not going to let you guilt me into things again Max.”

“Don’t leave,” Max spoke up and she rolled her eyes before moving out the door and slamming it behind her. Max stood in her apartment almost waiting for her to return, but she didn’t. His body was shaking and trembling as he thought about what she had said and done. Moving across the kitchen, he pulled open the drawer and grabbed a large knife from within it. Holding his arm out, he dug the tip of the knife into his wrist knowing what she was doing to him on the inside. His brain was getting lost in the darkness of what he had grown accustomed to. Without her, there was no fucking point in life. “See if you don’t care when you fucking get back…”

Max dug the knife deeper into his skin, watching the blood that started to drip onto the ground. Wincing out, he looked to his arm and could see the wound that he was letting develop. Letting out a tight breath, he dropped the knife and fell back onto the ground himself when he started to think more clearly about what he was doing. He couldn’t do this to her. He couldn’t kill himself in her apartment. He loved her too much to have her come home to find him dead in her apartment.

Moving to the drawers, he pulled one open to grab a hand towel to wrap around his arm and then pushed through another to try to find duct tape. Wrapping it around the hand towel, he tossed the knife in the sink and washed it off before reaching for his clothes. He hated himself, he hated everything about himself, but he wasn’t about to let her come home to this. Even though he was mad at her, he still loved her and didn’t want her to remember the sight of him dead in her apartment for the rest of her life. Even if she no longer cared for him.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The OC (reader) comes to find Max after he hurts himself and their relationship takes an uncomfortable turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably my second to last chapter. I've finished the story, but I'm just breaking it up so that way it isn't ridiculously long. Thanks to those that read it! Hopefully the person that requested it, enjoyed it! :D

Quickly moving off the elevator in Max’s apartment building, Y/N moved for his apartment and slammed her hand on the door. When she came home to find Max gone and blood on her floor, she didn’t know what to expect. When she left and followed a trail of blood, she found herself terrified. She had already called and canceled her appointment that she had with work knowing that it wasn’t good business, but she had to know that Max was okay.

“Max, open the door,” she demanded, hitting the door over and over again. Looking down, she saw there were small drops of blood in front of the door and she could feel her heart start to hammer inside of her chest. Moving to the apartment that Max shared with August; she knocked on the door and waited. She was almost about to give up until the door slowly pulled open and she saw August standing before her. “I’m sorry to bother you sir, but is Max in here?”

“I haven’t seen my grandson in a while,” August answered, his eyes shifting over her and she could tell that something was off with her. She was jittery and shaken. Earlier when she had told Max that she didn’t care if he hurt himself, she really hadn’t meant it. She really didn’t believe him when he told her that he was going to hurt himself. “What did he do to you?”

“He didn’t do anything to me. Could I please go in his room to grab something real quick?” she begged and August stepped aside allowing her into the apartment. Moving across the apartment, she pushed her way inside to head for the dresser where she knew that Max had kept a spare set of keys to things. Grabbing them quickly, she turned on her heel and let out a gasp when August was standing behind her. “Excuse me.”

“Whatever he is doing, whatever has you so upset, this is classic of Max,” August warned and Y/N tilted her head to the side, finding herself appalled with Max’s grandfather. “He gets in and slowly the darkness of him starts to filter into your life. Before you know it, it’s too late and he has his claws dug into you. He tricks you into doing what he wants.”

“No wonder your grandson is so complicated, having someone like you had to have done numbers to his mind growing up,” she let out a disgusted sound and carefully moved around the frail old man. Heading to Max’s apartment, she fumbled with the keys and pushed the door open. Stepping inside, she could see there was a line of blood leading right to the kitchen and she followed it hoping not to find something awful. “Max!”

Calling out his name, she heard nothing. A worried breath fell from her lips when she saw a blood covered rag in the sink and she felt her heart begin to pound. It was way too much blood. Moving around the apartment, she searched everywhere for Max and found nothing. Heading back toward the hallway, she thought about where he could be. Instantly, her mind went off in the hidden area behind the walls that she had originally found Max in at one point. Moving quickly to the hidden entrance, she pushed it open and carefully moved through the dark, damp passageway. She was in search of the storage room that she had found him in. Reaching for the door, she tried to pull it open feeling that it was stuck against her tug.

“Son of a bitch…” she tugged with all of her weight, finally getting the door to start sliding open. When she went to pull it open completely, a hand grasped her neck tightly to press her firmly back against the wall. Her body hit the wall with a slam and she let out a pained noise. Looking up, she saw Max standing before her with an angered expression. His dark eyes were heavy and his face extremely pale as he stared out at her.

“Don’t go in there,” Max demanded, knowing that he had the collage of photos of her filling his wall. The last thing he needed was her seeing his personal shrine that he had of her. Her hand reached for his hand to get him to lower his grasp from her neck. “What…are...”

“Jesus Max,” she gasped, reaching for his arm to see that there was blood seeping through the button down shirt that he was wearing. Max tried to pull his arm from her, but she wouldn’t allow him to move it as she pushed the sleeve up and saw that he had tried to bandage it himself. “What did you do?”

“I’m fine,” Max assured her with a weak breath, his dark eyes watching her closely and he shook his head. “What the fuck does it matter to you? Remember, you don’t care…”

“I was upset Max and…” she watched Max go to move away, but he fell to a knee and she quickly reached out to try and grab him, but he wouldn’t allow her to touch him. “Please Max; we need to get you to a hospital.”

“No, I’m fine…” Max grunted with a violent hiss, stumbling to his feet and he held his hand up, ordering her to get out. “Get out of here! You don’t belong here. I thought you were the person that would get me out of these fucking walls, but you’re not. You are just like everyone else…”

“Max…” she felt him grabbing her arm to tug her out of the passage and once they reached the hallway and got the door closed up, she watched Max drop to the floor on his knees again. Max tried to get up this time, but didn’t have the energy to move as she got to her knees in front of him. “Max, we have to get you to the hospital.”

“Leave,” Max demanded with a growl, but she refused, reaching out to cup his face in her hands firmly. “This morning, I thought I did love you, but now…”

“I’m sorry,” she tried to apologize, but he rolled his eyes and pulled his head back away from her grasp. “I was upset Max. I’ve never had someone like you in my life and…”

“I thought you’d be the person who’d change me. You promised that you would always be there and understand, but you don’t. You are just like…everyone…else,” Max slurred, his breathing growing heavy as she let out a loud gasp watching him drop down onto the ground. Reaching out, she felt his body limp in her arms and she cradled him in her arms.

“Max, open your eyes,” she tapped at the side of his face and he was still unresponsive against her touch. The sound of a door opening was heard and she looked up to August standing in the doorway looking down at the two of them. “August, call for help!”

August’s eyebrow arched as he looked over Max on the ground. He stood there watching the two and she felt a fire raging inside of her as she clung to Max’s body.

“Call for help, right now!” she screamed and it finally seemed to get August to react as he headed back inside of the apartment. Y/N clung to Max’s body as she caressed her fingertips into his dark hair. “I didn’t mean for this, please be okay…”

 

* * *

 

 

“Can we talk for a moment?” one of the nurses stepped inside the hospital room to see Y/N sitting next to Max’s hospital bed. When she lifted her head, she could see that it was Kyle, the friend that she originally had stitch up Max’s hand in the past.

“Right now?” Y/N breathed, her hand squeezing around Max’s as he was laid out in the hospital bed. She looked Max over to see that his chest was rising and falling softly. He was hooked up to an IV to get him fluids after the blood loss he had taken. When Kyle nodded, she stood up from the chair and followed Kyle out into the hallway. “What’s going on?”

“I realize that you are trying to sell this as an accident again for him, but I don’t know how I can cover for you like this much more,” Kyle exclaimed under his breath when he looked back to see the pale Max still unconscious in the hospital room. “First with his hand and I took that for an accident, I really did, but this time I can tell that the wound is self-inflicted. Your boyfriend has a problem Y/N. I think he needs to be on some serious medication and possibly be put on a suicide watch. Do you know how lucky he is that he didn’t hit an artery or damage any nerves? He cut pretty deep and if you wouldn’t have got him here when you did, it was likely that he would have died.”

“It was an accident. Max owns an apartment building where he is constantly working with sharp supplies and he’s a little clumsy,” she lied, watching the expression that her friend gave her and she shrugged. It was obvious what Max had done, but she wasn’t about to let him go down for what she had said that led him to making this terrible decision to hurt himself. “I’m not lying about this Kyle.”

“I know you think you are helping him, but he needs to be constantly watched. These stitches weren’t like the last ones. When someone tries to kill themselves, they often try again. Your boyfriend needs help. I know you care about him, but there comes a time when…” Kyle began and she threw her hands up to stop him. She shook her head and tried to get him to stop speaking. “Please...for him to get better.”

“I will be there for him. It was just an accident,” she firmly reminded her friend, knowing herself that it truly wasn’t the case. She left her friend in the hallway and returned to the hospital room, pulling the seat up closer to the bed. Reaching out for Max’s hand, she curled her fingers around his and squeezed them tight. Max’s fingers curled slightly around hers and she lifted her head to see his eyes open partially. When he somewhat came to, she felt him pull his fingers from her grasp and she could feel an ache in the center of her chest. “Hey you…”

Max lifted his head to look at the machines that he was attached to and raised his arm to look at the IV that was there. He let out a grunt and returned his glance back to hers. It was clear that he was irritated with being there. The coloring was still gone from his face and he moved weakly to pull his arm away from her.

“Why am I here?” he finally spoke, his eyes meeting hers with an angered glance. “I don’t want to be here.”

“Well you have to be here for a while. You lost a lot of blood and I told them you had an accident while renovating one of the apartments,” she informed him of her lie and she could see his eyes narrow out at her when she spoke. “I didn’t really think you would do it…I would have never said…”

“Well maybe you should think about the things that you say before you say them,” Max snorted with a roll of his eyes before letting out a pained noise when he lifted his arm to look at his bandage covered wrist. “How did you even know I was at home or that I was hurt? I made sure to clean up the knife and the blood on it.”

“You missed the blood on the floor,” she pointed out and Max let out an angered breath. “Why would you do this?”

“I don’t want to talk about this,” Max closed his eyes and lowered his head further against the pillow underneath it. “You can just leave.”

“I’m not leaving,” she hissed and Max’s nose wrinkled when he lifted his head up from the pillow. “You can’t make me leave.”

“You want to bet?” Max snarled, turning his head to look at her with an angered expression. “You are just like everyone else. There is no point in you being here. I just wish you would have let me finish the job. Let me be instead of lying for me…”

“I realize I made a mistake in saying what I did and for that I’m sorry,” she tried to reason with him and he let out a tight laugh, “but I’m going to be here to try and help you. Do you understand me?”

“Yeah…” Max retorted with a snort. She could tell that he still didn’t believe her and just felt like she was feeding him crap. After a few moments, she could hear his heavy breathing filling the room and realized that he had fallen back asleep. This whole thing crushed her and she was absolutely heartbroken that he really did hurt himself because of her. Right now he was here because of her and she felt horrible about it.

 

* * *

 

“Here we go,” Y/N helped Max off the elevator, keeping her arm firmly wrapped around him as she helped him off the elevator toward his apartment. She helped him open the door and move toward his bedroom. Once they hit the bedroom, she helped him lower down to the bed and moved back to close the apartment door before returning. Max looked up at her with his weak eyes and she helped him lie back on the bed. “We need to get you to rest.”

“This is stupid,” Max retorted with a growl and he could see her tending to him and he let out an angered breath. “I’m not a child here.”

“They wanted you to rest for a couple of weeks Max,” she informed him with a sigh and she reached for one of his boots to pull it from his foot before doing the other. “And I’m going to be here to make sure that your stitches stay clean and you take the medicine that they gave you. I’m not leaving you unless it is to get you some food or to get you something that you need.”

“You have a job,” Max reminded her, watching her closely and she shrugged her shoulders. “What happened to the last job you had? You have all those photos that need to be edited and…”

“I’ll work on the editing while I’m here with you, but all of the other jobs—I turned them down right now and gave it to someone else,” she told him about the deal that she had made to make sure that she got to spend time with him to take care of him. “You are more important.”

“That’s the guilt talking,” Max insisted with a shake of his head and she rolled her eyes. She got him ready for bed and let there be silence between the two of them. She turned off the light and he let out a nervous breath when she headed for the door to leave. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to sleep out on the couch right now. Christian is going to be bringing some of my stuff so I can stay here with you,” she replied with a heavy sigh as she clung to the bedroom door. “You need some rest and in few hours I’ll get you some lunch.”

“You don’t have to do this,” Max pointed out with a heavy sigh and she shrugged her shoulders. “I’m serious.”

“I know, but I’m going to,” she informed him with a simple shrug of her shoulders before closing the door and leaving him in the darkness to himself.

And that’s exactly how it went for weeks. She would make sure that he was taking care of himself like Kyle had suggested to her when she was in the hospital. She was there to make sure that he continued to take care of himself and not try to hurt himself again. Every day she would make sure that he was at least eating and their relationship was still kind of…complicated.

It was clear that Max was still very much upset with her because they didn’t communicate much. Several times Max had come out of the room to sit and watch TV with her, but they never really said much to each other. They had gone on a few walks, but again, unless he had to do talking, they really didn’t talk. Often times he told her that he felt like she was being his babysitter and it embarrassed him. She wouldn’t let him do heavy lifting because of his wrist and she was on his ass at all times when he was walking around. Sometimes she would take a few editing jobs while they were together, but never really left him alone for long because she was too worried about what he could do to himself. At this point, she wasn’t even really sure if either of them would consider what they had a relationship because it didn’t even feel like a friendship. Max was always angry with her and it showed. No matter how much she tried to help him, it felt it like he wasn’t going to let go what she had said to him. She was trying to make up for it, she was trying to help him through everything, but it wasn’t enough to make up for what she said. She wasn’t going to give up yet though, she was going to take care of him until his next checkup and until she knew for certain that he wouldn’t hurt himself.

“You know you have your own apartment for that,” Max blurted out when he walked out of the room and she could see him heading toward the kitchen. She had been working on some of the editing she had to get done and when she saw Max go to grab himself a drink, she let out a long sigh. “Who knew that this would be how you’d end up fucking living with me.”

“Good to see you too Max,” she sighed heavily as he moved toward the other end of the living room to drop down on the couch to turn on the television. “Feeling better today?”

“Will it make you leave if I am?” Max slurred out and she clenched her fist at her side, getting sick of his bitchy little comments.

“I told you as soon as the doctor gives the okay, I’ll be leaving if that’s what you want,” she answered and his eyebrows arched up as he took a long swig of the soda that he had grabbed. “Do you want to go for a walk today?”

“Gee, am I dog?” Max snapped and he could see the glare that she gave him. “No, I’m good. Thanks to all of this I got back to my agoraphobic phase. I don’t actually like leaving the apartment too much. So thanks for that.”

“Would you pull the stick out of your ass?” she snapped at him and his eyes narrowed out at her when he turned off the television and looked to her. “I’m trying here. We have kept this up for weeks and you are acting like a fucking child. I get what I did hurt you, I get what I said was wrong, but I’m trying to make up for what I did.”

“Oh, well good for you. I’m glad that you are trying to help rid yourself of the guilt,” Max stood up from the couch and went to head back into his bedroom. Dropping down on the bed, he laid there for a while before hearing the sounds of Y/N moving quickly through his apartment and heard what he thought to be her throwing up. Getting up slowly, he walked out into the living room and toward the bathroom to see her crouched over the toilet. “You okay?”

“Do I look okay?” she hissed as she looked up to see Max standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe. “What does it even matter? You can’t fucking stand me as it is.”

“That’s not entirely true,” Max could see her turning pale and his nose wrinkled when he saw her getting sick again. A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he moved toward the vanity to pull a washcloth out from beneath it. Wetting it over, he carefully lowered down to the ground next to her and caressed the cool cloth over the back of her neck. “How can you catch something? You rarely leave the apartment.”

“I don’t know,” she groaned out uneasily and he watched her slide back toward the wall to rest against it. Max reached his hand out to brush it over her forehead and he could see her eyes watching him closely. Max brushed the cool cloth over the side of her face and sighed heavily. Max moved forward to carefully pick her up in his arms and he could hear her letting out a nervous sound. “Your wrist.”

“It will be okay,” Max assured her, carrying her toward the bedroom and he laid her out on the bed. He disappeared from the room for a moment before coming back with a bucket for her in case she ended up throwing up again. Max reached out to brush his fingertips throughout her hair as he shook his head slowly. “Can I get you something? You want a coke for your stomach?”

A disgusted sound fell from her lips and he laughed out before shrugging his shoulders, “It was only a suggestion.”

Grabbing a hold of the wet cloth he had given her, he took it back into the bathroom to wet it again before heading back to place is softly over her forehead. Reaching for the blankets, he pulled them in over her and brushed his fingertips softly in over her jawline.

“Get some rest. I’ll be out on the couch. If you need me, call for me. Okay?” Max saw her nod and he sighed uneasily. This whole time he had been giving her the cold shoulder, but he couldn’t leave her sick like that. So he had to break his tough façade for a little bit just to help her. While he wanted to pretend that he hated her and that he wanted nothing to do with her, anyone with half a brain knew otherwise.

The fact that she was there with him, living with him was the best thing he could have ever had happen from the situation, but at the end of the day she had still hurt him with what had happened. The words that she had said to him, the things she told him really hurt and he never forgave her for it. If he wasn’t upset with her for that, he would have loved her being here taking care of him. Never leaving his side, but the fact of the matter was she still hurt him.

Toward the end of the night, he heard her leaving the bedroom and watched her walk to the bathroom. Keeping a close eye on her, he could see her brushing her teeth and using some mouthwash. When she stepped out of the bathroom, she motioned for him to come to the bathroom and he got up from the couch slowly. Following her into the bathroom, he felt her grabbing a hold of his arm to take off the bandage he had on his arm. She looked over the healing wound on his wrist and he gulped down heavily. He didn’t realize how long it would take for the wound to actually heal, but he could see that every time she looked at it that she blamed herself. When she finished up covering it again with a new bandage, he gulped down and reached up to softly brush her hair out of her face.

“I’m sorry,” Max breathed out heavily as he tipped in closer to her, his thumb drawing out over her bottom lip and he could see her eyes watching him closely. Tipping in closer to her, he attempted to kiss her only to have her pull away from him and look down. An uncomfortable laugh fell from his lips as he felt her pushing a distance between the two of them. A surge of anger started to fill his body as he looked down at her and let out a disgusted sound. “Of fucking course…”

“Max,” she called out as he stormed back toward his bedroom and she followed him not far behind. She could see that he was grabbing her bag that she had brought to his apartment with her when she first started staying with him. Letting out an irritated sound, she watched him reaching for her things to toss it in the bag. “Max, stop it.”

“Give me a fucking reason for you to still stay here. If you aren’t just staying here because you feel guilty,” Max dropped the items that he had in his hands and reached out to cup her face in his hands roughly. A gasp fell from her lips when his lips covered hers and he started to forcefully kiss her over and over again. Pulling her lips away from him made him let out an angered breath. “Max, stop!”

“I knew that you weren’t here because of me. I fucking knew you were only here for your own reasons. You just felt fucking guilty,” he snarled, seeing her eyes narrowing out at him and he threw his hands up in the air. “I hate you.”

“Max,” she called out as he stormed out of the room and she followed him toward the kitchen, seeing him reaching for a beer from the fridge in which she quickly snatched from him. “You can’t have that with your medicine.”

“I don’t give a shit,” Max stumbled to try and grab her so he could get the beer from her hands, but she wouldn’t allow him. “What the fuck do you care if I hurt myself from drinking alcohol with my medicine…you could care less what fucking happens to me. What does it matter what I do?”

“You don’t talk to me for weeks and then I’m just suddenly supposed to be okay with you wanting to kiss me?” she moved around the bar in the middle of the kitchen and he stood on the other side of it glaring out at her. “Make up your damn mind. Are you fucking mad at me or do you want to be with me?”

“I’m not the one that betrayed the other,” Max retorted with a growl, moving out to try and grab the beer until he watched her pop off the lid to pour it in the sink. He made a disgusted sound before heading back toward the bedroom. When she followed, he let out an angered sound and glared back at her. When he reached for her bag again, he felt her pulling it from his hands. “This is so typical of you…you need to fucking leave.”

“I’m not leaving,” she was determined to make sure that he knew she wasn’t leaving him, even if they were fighting right now. “I said I would stay and take care of you.”  

“Leave,” Max begged, lowering down to the bed and she could see him lowering his head into his hands. His body started rocking back and forth and she didn’t know how to respond. “Please just leave!”

“No,” she gulped down and heard Max let out a sound of anger. Max stood up from the bed and slammed his hand into the items that he had set out on top of his dresser. The crashing made her jump, but she still refused to leave. “I’m sorry for what I did.”

“I begged you not to leave me! I begged you,” Max screamed out and she could feel a chill running down her spine when Max stepped in closer to her. There were tears pressing in over the corners of his eyes and it was now she finally saw Max breaking down again from what she had done. “I go to kiss you and fucking turn me down. It’s clear that you are only here because you feel bad about what I did. You want to clear your guilty conscience with me. It has nothing to do with me. You could care less about me because I’m just a fucking freak…”  

“That’s not what happened,” she insisted as Max stepped forward to grab a tight hold of her jaw and she winced, grabbing his wrist softy in her hands. “I was upset with you for being so secretive. For never trusting me and always thinking the worst. I always cared for you, but you never believed that...I was frustrated and I said something stupid. I said something awful. I said something that I can never make up for, but I’m trying. You have been so mad at me for weeks that kissing you would only make things more complicated…”

Max released her and she watched him drop to his knees, covering his head again as he rocked back and forth. Her chest ached as she watched him, but she didn’t know what to do to fix things.

“You need to cool down, I’m going to leave and sit out there on the couch for a few. When you are calm, we will talk this out. Okay?” she reached out to touch his shoulder softly and he flinched against her touch. “Just breathe Max.”

Turning toward the door of his bedroom, she pulled it open and gasped when she felt Max quickly pressing in behind her to slam the door shut causing her to let out a shocked sound. Max was breathing hard as he reached for her to shove her back firmly against the door and she could see his dark eyes narrowing out at her again.

“I’m not letting you abandon me again,” Max quickly grabbed a hold of her and threw her up over his shoulder. The ground moving out beneath her so quickly caused her to latch onto Max and she grasped tightly at his shirt. Max tossed her on top of the bed and she watched him move for the door to lock it from the inside with a key making her let out a tense sound. Never before had she noticed that he had a lock like that and she found herself confused. “All you do is lie…”

“Max, you need to relax,” she urged him, holding her hand up when she saw something different in his eyes and she shook her head slowly. “I know I hurt you, I know I did, but you are just upset right now. We haven’t been able to talk about this whole thing the last few weeks, but if you calm down, we can talk about this. Just unlock the door and we can…”

“Shut up,” Max demanded with a firm tone and she could feel her heart hammering in her chest as she sat on the edge of the bed. “Trust me, there are a lot of ways that I can keep you locked up in here, so I suggest you listen to me before I decide to pull out of some of those steps.”

“What?” she blurted out in a confused tone, her eyes staring up at him as he stepped in closer to the bed. The look he was given her made her somewhat uncomfortable and she gulped down heavily. “You’re scaring me Max…”

“You know, I actually thought you were different. I thought you loved me. I thought you were the one person that understood me. I thought you were the person that could pull me away from the darkness in my life,” Max stammered and she could see that he seemed to be playing something out inside of his head as he thought about their relationship.

“Max, please…” she began with an uneasy tone, watching him pace back and forth in the room. “I do care about you.”

“Oh bull shit,” he screamed at her making her jump. “You act like you care, you act like you give a shit about what happened, but in reality the only thing that actually is happening here is that you feel guilty. You feel guilty because you think it is your fault that I tried to fucking kill myself. I was going to do it too, you know that? I planned on killing myself in your fucking apartment, but stopped because I loved you too damn much to put you through that. You told me that you would take care of me and then you fucking betrayed me…”

“That’s not exactly what happened Max,” she watched him kick something in the corner of the room and jumped slightly. “I do care about you. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

“It’s funny. You told me that you were nice because your friend committed suicide when you were a kid,” Max began with snarl and he snapped his fingers to make sure that she was watching him. “Yet when I almost kill myself, you turn into a raging bitch.”

“Max, you are overreacting to this situation. Just because I didn’t kiss you,” she tried to reason with him, but gasped when she felt Max quickly moved forward to cover her mouth and press her back against the bed. She clutched at his wrist, feeling the pressure of his hand keeping her from talking.

“I thought that God must exist because he sent me you. You were perfect. You were everything I ever wanted in life,” Max ranted and she could see the veins in his neck bulging as he spoke. “You changed me, but that wasn’t good enough for you. I’ll never be good enough for you. As soon as you had sex with me, you no longer gave a shit. Was I that bad?”

“No Max, it wasn’t bad,” she whispered when Max pulled his hand carefully away from her lips to answer, but kept his grip firmly on her neck. The look in his eyes showed how angry he was and she didn’t know how to respond since he wasn’t listening to her. “I care very much for you Max, but you don’t trust me. You get very possessive of me and…”

“Why wouldn’t I be? You never did anything to make me believe like I was your one and only,” Max pointed out, his grip getting tighter. “Everyone I ever loved left me. Everyone. You know that. You know about my life. You know what I went through. You knew that I couldn’t take people leaving me. You knew I couldn’t take what you did and you promised me from the beginning that you would never leave me. That you would always be there for me, but when I needed you, when I needed you the most you left me! You betrayed me and you left me.”

“I did Max, I was upset and wasn’t thinking clearly,” she nodded and he rolled his eyes as she spoke. “People say and do stupid things when they are upset. I just…sometimes don’t know what to say to make you believe me. This is so hard…”

“Try being me! Try being someone who knows they are better off dead. Someone that knows they are a fucking monster that doesn’t deserve the air they breathe. I know that I’m pathetic and awful,” Max started crying again as he spoke and she could feel a pain pressing in over the center of her chest as she watched him. “I mean nothing to anyone. Lives would be better off if I was dead…”

“That’s not true,” she tried to assure him, getting him to move his hand from her neck. She reached up to trace over the side of his face, attempting to calm him. Her fingertips traced over his lips and he let out a heavy exhale. His hands reached up to trace over her lips in a slow sweep. “I want you here, I want you in my life, but if we want to fix things…you need to relax. We need to leave this room and we need to go talk. To fix this.”

“So you can get mad and leave me again?” he growled, shaking his head in response. “No, you are going to prove to me right now that you care about me. If you want to be with me, then you are going to prove it.”

Max forcefully moved over her again, trapping her beneath him as he moved in to kiss her again. The kiss was rough and sloppy as she let out an uncomfortable sound. His mouth pressed in over the side of her neck again and again as she pressed her hands in over the center of his chest. “You are the only person that ever treated me like I was something more than what I am…”

“Max…” she breathed out, feeling him biting at her jawline and she tipped her head back. His hands reached for her button down shirt, ripping it open and it made her gasp out. “Stop…we need to talk. Sex is not the way to fix this…”

Max’s lips covered hers again and she could feel him working open the button in her pants. A gasp fell from her lips when she felt him tugging the material down her legs quickly before covering her with his body again.

“Max, no…” she muttered when she felt his hand palming in over her breast. When she went to get up, she felt Max’s hand pressing in over her throat to get her to stay where she was. Wincing, she felt his grasp strong when his dark eyes met hers.

“Stay where you are,” Max snarled, getting up slowly as he reached for his shirt to pull it up over his head and dropped it down onto the ground. She watched nervously as Max reached for his pants to open the button and push down the zipper. “You’re mine…you’re always going to be mine…”

A nervous breath escaped her lips when his pants hit the ground and he moved in over her. Trying to brace her hands in over the center of his chest to get him to stay back, she felt him forcing her hands down against the bed and he let out a tight growl. His fingers were wrapped firmly around her wrists, pushing them forcefully into the mattress as she bit back a whimper with how hard he was holding onto them. Max forcefully made sure that he could keep both of her wrists down with one hand before pressing his other hand between them.

“I never stopped being yours Max, can’t you see that?” she muttered and when his eyes lifted to meet her expression, she could see something changing behind them. It was as if the light finally snapped on and she felt him quickly letting go of her wrists, scrambling to pull away from her while he pulled his pants back up. “Hey…relax.”

 “Jesus…God, I’m so sorry,” Max stuttered, his words coming out extremely upset when he realized the position he just had her in. He stumbled back to the ground and stared out at her with his dark eyes. “You should leave. You should leave now.”

Max reached for the key from his pants and set it down on the ground realizing what he was almost about to do. Max tugged his fingers through his hair as he pulled himself into the corner and watched her get up to pull her pants back on.

“I told you I’m a monster,” he bit back a whimper as she kneeled in before him and he felt her reaching out to cup his face in her hands. “I’m sick; you need to get away from me as fast as you can.”

“No, that’s not going to happen. I’m sorry, I’m just really emotional today and this is my fault. I should have expressed how I felt,” she grabbed the key and handed it back to him, her eyes watching him closely. She was attempting to prove to him that she trusted him, but it was clear by his eyes that he was upset with himself. “Max…listen to me. I made a mistake, but would you please just open up to me. I’m begging you to open up to me. Let’s get over this, let’s talk this out…please.”

“I love you too much Y/N,” he insisted, his eyes tearing over as he thought about everything that had happened. “I’m so very sorry. I’m so sorry…”

“Max, I’m not leaving just…please, talk to me,” she begged, reaching out to wrap her hand around the back of his neck to pull him in closer to her so that she could hug him. “I get it, I understand and I’m sorry I said everything I did. It was wrong and I know that now. I did promise you that I would understand and be there for you. I broke that promise and it’s my fault, just please…talk to me. Give me a chance to make all of this right.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max has a tense interaction with August which lets the reader know more about his past and he finally opens up to her about the things he has done.

 “Hey,” Max lifted his head from the couch, rubbing at his tired eyes when he saw Y/N walking back into the apartment with a few bags in her hands. Looking around, he remembered them coming out to talk on the couch for a while about what happened before he must have dozed off after taking his medicine. “Where’d you go?”

“I went to go get us some food and grabbed a few things from the store,” she moved across the room to set a bag in front of him on the coffee table. Max slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position on the couch and looked to see that she had gotten them some sandwiches from the deli at the corner of the street. “Eat up, I’m kind of feeling under weather and need a minute…”

“Okay,” Max watched her move toward the bathroom and close herself in. Staring out at the door, he began to eat his food and noticed that she seemed to be a bit nervous. Shaking it off, he started to eat, but after a while of her not returning, he started to get worried. Closing up the takeout box, Max moved out toward the bathroom and softly knocked on the door. “Everything okay in there?”

The sounds of her scrambling inside of the bathroom were heard and he waited a moment before she returned to the door, holding onto it closely. It sounded like she had thrown something into the drawers and his eyes shifted between her and the area behind her.

“What’s going on?” Max tried to question, but she stepped out of the bathroom and pushed her hand into the center of his chest to get him to head back toward the living room. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she suggested and he tried to look in the bathroom, but she kept him away from it. “Max, I was just fiddling with things. It was nothing.”

“Okay…” Max held his hands up in the air as she urged him toward the couch. When she took a seat next to him on the couch, he handed her the food she had gotten for herself and she shook her head slowly.

“You can have it, I’m not really hungry,” she answered with a small gulp and Max tilted his head to the side. “Max, we really need to talk.”

“Okay,” he breathed in sharply, putting the food container back on the coffee table. “What’s up?”

“I know you are uncomfortable. I know we’ve had a rough day, but I really need you to tell me what you’ve been hiding from me. I need you to open up to me now and I swear…I promise you, I’ll try to listen with a clear state of mind,” she promised and he felt his body tensing up. “Max, this is really important. If you love me, if you really love me, I need you to do this.”

“Alright,” Max stood up from the couch and reached for her hand and she accepted it in hers. Max led her toward the door of the apartment before heading down the hallway toward August’s apartment. “I need to grab some things first to start from the beginning. Just wait here.”

Y/N watched from the hallway as Max opened the door and headed inside. Max left the door partially opened as he walked into his old bedroom heading for his closet to grab a few boxes from inside of it. When he went to return, he let out a tight breath when he saw August standing behind him in the doorway.

“August, hi…” Max could see the shifty eyed look that August gave him as Max gulped down heavily. There was a look that his grandfather could give him that absolutely made him feel like the worst scum of the planet.

“So you’re actually alive,” August began with his deep voice echoing through the room and Max could feel his throat go dry. Max slowly lowered the boxes to the ground before pushing his hands into his pockets. “You could have fooled me with how long you’ve been gone. You used to be here to give me my medication every day and now…”

“I’m really sorry about that. I was just…I had an accident,” Max looked toward his arm where the bandage was visible upon his wrist. “The doctor wanted me to take things easy and I was in my apartment down the hall…”

“An accident? Is that what you call trying to kill yourself to get the attention of that young girl that you have wrapped so tightly around your finger?” August scowled and Max made an uncomfortable sound before shifting his weight and looking down toward the ground. “You are a disgusting boy. If only that girl knew what you were like, what you have done…”

“August, please…” Max’s eyes met his grandfather’s and he almost wished that this time his grandfather would give him a break. Max pressed in closer to his grandfather, giving him a pleading look. “I wish I was here to take care of you, but…”

The sound of a smack filled the air and Max could feel his body tensing up after his grandfather has smacked him. The frail man before Max still had a bit of power in his old age, but what Max felt was more of an embarrassment.

“The world would have been better off if you would have just died,” August blurt out and Max lifted his head to stare out at his grandfather with the hurt expression that pressed in over his features. “I knew you were a monster from the day you were born. Everything would have just been easier if your mother would have let your father get his hands on you. Then it would be the two of you gone and not your mother…”

Max said nothing, just stared out at his grandfather with his upset eyes and he gulped down heavily.

“You’re a pervert and one of these days that young lady is going to see just what you are…” August warned making Max let out a stressed sound. “I always told your mother that having you would be a mistake. Your father was always a dark man and you are just like him. If I didn’t love your mother so much, I would have done the world a favor and smothered you when you were a child…”

“Enough,” Max slurred, reaching down to grab a hold of the boxes that he had set back down. “My whole life I have tried to wait it out in hopes that you would finally realize I’m not my father. I took the abuse you put me through. Every time you’d beat me as a child, I always lied and made up things to keep you from getting in trouble. I still have the scar on my face that you left on me after the year anniversary of their deaths. You’re a horrible person and I don’t know why I ever wanted your love in the first place. I thought if family couldn’t love you, then no one could, but I was wrong.”

“No Max, you weren’t…” August called out, watching the way that Max stopped before reaching the door of the apartment. “No one will ever love you. You are going to end up alone. You are always going to be alone because you are unlovable. No one like you deserves to be loved…even your own father wanted you dead. That’s how truly unlovable you are…”

Max stormed out of the apartment and he could feel his body shaking and his heart pounding inside of his chest as he dropped the boxes onto the ground. He knew that Y/N was there to hear everything outside of the apartment and when he dropped down in the hallway to cover his head with his hands he felt her moving down in front of him. Sobs escaped his lips when he felt her reaching out to grab a hold of him and pull him close to her chest. After a moment, he could feel her pulling away from him and could see the rage that had built up inside of her face. He had never seen her so angry and he watched her start to move toward the apartment.

“No, don’t…” Max begged, reaching for her hands and she shook her head slowly. “I’m telling you…”

“Max, honey, it is okay. Just stay right here, I’ll be right back,” she promised and she moved for the apartment door that was still opened. Inside August was standing inside of Max’s room and she pushed the door open fully to get his attention. “Sir, we need to have a talk.”

“I agree, I think we do,” the old man replied with a slow nod of his head. “I understand that my grandson must have you thinking that I’m some kind of monster that…”

“No, your grandson doesn’t have me thinking anything. I just was out there and heard the way that you were talking to him and you are the person that has me thinking you are monster,” she cut him off angrily, throwing her hands up to point out at him. Her voice was full of anger and she knew that yelling at someone like this was wrong, but her emotions were flaring. “Listen, I understand that you are used to having Max to yourself. That he has been under your wing most of his life and because you are his grandfather, he respects you. So he’s not going to say the things to you that I’m about to…”

Out in the hallway, Max lifted his head when he heard her say the words that she was and he could feel the panic begin to flush in over him at the thought of how his grandfather would respond.

“Max is a grown man and he is allowed to live the kind of life he wants. He makes mistakes, we all make mistakes. Life is hard enough as it is and we don’t have to constantly be reminded of the awful things we’ve done in life,” she informed August with a firm nod of her head and August’s eyes seemed to be wide with amazement of her lecturing him. “You need to stop treating him like a little boy. He no longer needs to take the abuse from you anymore because he’s done nothing to deserve it.”

“Mistakes? You are calling what my grandson has done mistakes?” August chuckled in a sarcastic tone and Y/N could feel her blood boiling.

“I don’t care what Max has done. It doesn’t excuse the way that you have treated him. From the moment I’ve met Max, he has hated himself. Hated everything about himself. I couldn’t understand why someone so gorgeous and so sweet would be so hard on themselves, but when I listen to the way that you talk to him, I don’t even have to question it anymore,” she insisted and Max stood slowly, to move up to carefully eye over the two fighting in the apartment. “You make him feel like he is small. You treated him like he was a freak and he believed it. You locked him away from the world and made him believe that he was different and he was a freak when really he was just a little boy that lost his parents. He was a little boy begging for help, begging for love from the one man that should have been there for him from the start. The way we talk to children when they are young becomes their inner voice and listening to you just now, I can see why Max has the self-esteem that he has. At first I questioned it, it scared me, but now I get it. He’s scared constantly because of you. He needs validation that someone cares constantly because of you. Max isn’t the monster in this situation. You are and you should be ashamed of yourself.”

“If you weren’t blinded by the charm that he gives off right now, you would actually see how wrong you actually were,” August grumbled and Max could feel a pain pressing in over the center of his chest as he heard his grandfather talk. “You are young and you don’t know any better at this point.”

“And you are old and you should know better than to treat people like you do. Max was a child; he had absolutely nothing to do with what his father did to his mother and deep down you know that. I understand that losing a child is a very hard thing to go through. I’m not going to pretend that I understand what that is like and my heart goes out to you, it really does. From what Max has told me about his mother, she was an amazing woman, but I think the main thing that you have missed throughout all of the pain and anguish is…” Y/N’s words seemed to making her upset as she spoke to August and it surprised Max with how emotional she was getting by defending him. “Max’s mother loved him. That man that just stormed out of here heartbroken because of the things you said was loved by his mother. She protected him because she loved him. Max is part of her. He is part of your daughter and while I understand that there is also part of the man that took your daughter away from you, the night that your daughter was killed, she decided to hide Max. She decided to keep Max safe because he meant everything to her. All you have left of your daughter is that man out there that is broken because of you.”

There was a silence that filled the room and Max could feel his own body shaking at the words that she was saying to his grandfather. It was hard not to think about his parents as he listened to her telling off August and he felt even more emotional as he kept himself hidden in the hallway.

“His whole life you made him believe that it was his fault that his father was sick. That it was his fault that his father killed his mother and he truly believes it and it’s all because of you! You hid him from the world, trapped him in the darkness that filled your world because it was easier to blame the person that was left. It was easier to attack him and blame him because he loved you. He loved you so much that you knew he would always come back,” she stated with a heavy sigh and August’s eyes never seemed to leave hers as she spoke. “You made him believe that he wasn’t worth a damn to this world, but he is August. You were so wrong about him. He is worth so much to this world and I hope that maybe one day he can learn to see that.”

Max pressed in closer to the door to see Y/N pressing a stray tear away from her eyes and he felt his body shaking at the thought. No one had ever said anything for him like this, no one had ever stood up to August and he didn’t know how to react.

“Max has years and years of mental scars to try and heal. At the end of this, I actually feel the worst for you,” she informed August and Max tilted his head to the side, confused. The look on August’s face said he was the same. “I feel sad for you. You are an old man that wasted his life treating the one person that actually loved him in this world so awful. Your daughter would be disgusted with the way you treated her son. She died protecting him. She wanted to keep him safe. You would disappoint her so much and I feel sorry for you. Max is the last part you have left of your daughter and you treated him like shit. I’m sorry you are so miserable that you could never see what a great person you could have raised. That you never gave him a chance at a real life. If you would have treated him the way that his mother wanted, then maybe he could have grown realizing what he was capable of. He could have seen that he was special; that he was a miracle to this world. Not some freak or monster that you made him out to be. Your daughter would view you no better than her husband for beating her son. Beating the one thing she fought to keep safe in her life…”

“I….” August began and she could see that her words had hit him hard as he moved toward the chair in the corner of the room. He lowered down and he was staring out blankly.

“Anything Max did in the past, anything you ever try to use against him…it all stemmed from the fact that you never allowed him to feel love. It stemmed from all the abuse you put him through and I’m not going to let that happen anymore. I won’t ever let you hurt him like this again, do you understand me?” Max shifted to the side when she moved and he wanted to make sure that he was still hidden beside the doorframe. “And you know what? You are wrong about another thing…”

Max’s brow arched up as he watched her step before August to make sure that August was looking at her.

“I love Max. I love your grandson and everything has become so clear to me now that I’ve listened to you,” she whispered and Max could feel his heartrate quicken when he heard her tell August that she loved him. Never before had she even given any signs that she loved him and to hear her say it almost knocked him off his feet. “I hope that in being with me, Max can start to feel what he has deserved all of his life, but wasn’t given because of you and that’s love. I’m in love with your grandson and I refuse to let him be hurt by you any further.”

When Max saw her going to head back in the direction he was at, he dropped back down onto the ground and rest back against the wall to act like he wasn’t listening. When Y/N stepped out into the hall, he could feel her grabbing a hold of his hands and pulling him up from the ground to the best of her abilities.

“What’s going on?” Max questioned when she reached for some of the boxes to help him carry them back to his apartment. Max followed her to the apartment and dropped the boxes down before closing the door. Her hands grabbed a tight hold of his and he felt her dragging him toward the bedroom. “Y/N?”

“I love you,” she stated with a heavy breath, tugging him down to her to kiss him over and over again. The motion shocked him as she cupped his damp face in her hands and he felt her tugging on his shirt to pull it up over his body. Max was nervous at first before allowing her to pull the clothing from his body and he could feel her quickly unbuckling his pants before pushing them down.  Max could feel his body shaking when he felt her caressing up and over his chest. Max tried to put some space between the two of them, but she wouldn’t allow it. “I love you so much.”

“Wait…” he breathed out, letting out a gasp when he felt her shove him down on the edge of the bed. Max watched her quickly pulling her clothes from her body and he could feel his throat going dry. His eyes watched her closely as he felt her tugging his boxers down toward his knees. “You are upset and…”

“No, I need you to know that you are loved. You are loved Max…” she moved in over his lap, his hands settling in over her hips as she brushed her hands in through his dark hair. There was a moment where they stared out at each other and he could see that she still had stray tears pressing in over her eyes. Max found himself amazed with the fact that she could get so emotional and upset about everything that happened that it led to this. He tipped it to press a soft, lingering kiss over her lips before he leaned his head against the inside of her neck. A heavy breath escaped his lips when she caressed her fingertips over the base of his neck, taking the moment to hold him. “I get it all now, I get it.”

“There is more…” Max tried to suggest, but he could feel her reaching between them to pump his length in her hand before lowering her body over his and it make him let out a small whimper. Her hips slowly rose and fell over his length as he wrapped his arms around her tightly. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” she stated and he felt her movements over him, slow yet sturdy. This was different than any time they had slept together. The way she was holding onto him, the way she moved over him…it was all so different and he loved every second of it. “So much.”

* * *

 

Staring up at the ceiling, Max could feel an ache in the center of his chest as he felt Y/N cuddling in closer to his chest. After they had made love, she had fallen asleep over him after they held each other for a while. If the girl in his arms did love him, if she really felt the way for him that she said, he had to tell her the truth. He couldn’t let this go on any longer.

“Hey…” Max nudged her softly, watching the way that she shifted over him and when she lifted her head, Max sighed heavily. “I need you to get dressed.”

“Okay?” she whispered with a confused expression. Max got up with her and got dressed as well before leading her toward the wine cellar in his closet. Pulling it open, she let out a small shocked sound when he reached for her hand to lead her into the hidden passageway behind the walls. “What are you doing?”

“Being honest with you,” Max led her into the passageway and he could feel her nervous against his touch. Stopping, Max turned to her and reached out to cup her face in his hands lovingly. “After this, it is likely that you are going to leave me. That you will want nothing to do with me and I realize that, but I want to thank you. Thank you for all you said and all you’ve done. For being the first person that I actually believe loved me in my life…”

“Max,” she frowned as Max hushed her and urged her to follow him in the damp, cramped space. Max pulled her before something and she reached out to trace her fingertips over the cool glass that was before her. “What is this?”

“Wait a minute,” Max sighed heavily as she watched a light flick on and she yelped out, stumbling backwards as Max’s hand covered her mouth to keep her silent. Before her, she saw Juliet looking out into the glass seeming to be looking over her makeup and Y/N could tell that it was a two way mirror. Max could feel Y/N tensing in his arms and he motioned her further away from the mirror, taking her toward the other areas where he could spy on Juliet, showing her everything. When he felt like she got the hint, he led her toward the storage room that they had been in before and when she stepped in to see the collage of photos of her on the wall, he could feel his body slumping over at her silence. “All of those things to spy on people that you originally saw, I put them in. I’ve been spying on people since I was a teen. I took August to the hospital one day when he had a panic attack and saw a flyer about how Juliet was looking for an apartment. I saw her save a boy’s life and I was just enamored with her. So I set up the apartment so that I would be able to spy on her. I watched her every day, from the day that she moved in. I would follow her in hopes of making her fall in love with me. The first day I met you, I wasn’t looking for someone that broke windows…I was stalking Juliet and trying to follow her. The only reason I was at that art show is because I followed her there. I was stalking Juliet…I was obsessed with her and she isn’t the first person I’ve done this to.”

Y/N said nothing as she walked toward the end of the wall where he had all the photos of her on his wall. Max was breathing heavily as she looked over the wall of photos and he felt his chest tightening as he spoke.

“When you started being nice to me,” Max spoke up with a heavy breath, watching her look over his shoulder at him and he shrugged. “I started following you too. The day that you were mad at me after seeing me with Juliet at the coffee shop, I followed you. I could break into your apartment easily the other day because I knew where you put the spare key. I snuck into your apartment building that day to see you hiding it in the plant right out in the hallway. I watched you do the photoshoot on the pier with that couple and then I followed you to that club. I knew about Christian long before I talked about it because I would sit outside your apartment when you didn’t want to be with me because I was desperate to see you.”

There was a silence that pressed between the two of them as she looked back toward the collage of photos he had of her on the wall and he damned himself for telling her all of this, but he knew that it had to be done.

“Since I’ve been with you, I’ve stopped. I haven’t come in here other than the day I hurt myself. I don’t follow Juliet. When I said you would get me out of these walls…” Max watched her moving for the door and he followed her back toward the apartment where he watched her move over toward the couch to drop down. “Would you please say something?”

Y/N looked up at him and Max threw his hands out in the air. He knew that she was reacting to what he was telling her and he shrugged his shoulders.

“I realize this is a lot to take in, but I told you the night we first hung out in your apartment, I’m dangerous. I am the pervert and monster that my grandfather calls me,” Max nodded slowly, reaching out for her hands and he could feel that she let him touch her. Caressing over her hands slowly, he took a moment to watch her carefully. “I swear to God, you changed me though. This is why I wanted to keep you from this. This is why I wanted to keep things from you. I didn’t want you to know who I was…”

“Okay…” she muttered and Max could see that she seemed to be a bit nervous before him and he sighed heavily, leaning back on his knees.

“I get that you probably want nothing to do with me,” Max reached for his jacket from the back of the couch and he started to pull it on. “I’ll leave. I’ll give you enough time to gather your things and then you can leave. I will leave you alone and not bother you after today. I just can’t be here while you leave because if I am…I won’t be able to handle it.”

Max tipped in to press a soft kiss against her lips before heading for the door, when he pulled the door open he could hear her calling out to him and he turned on his heel, “It’s a little late for that Max…”

“What?” Max turned on his heel, closing the door behind him, giving her an odd expression. “What does that mean?”

“Listen, I get it. You were craving some kind of affection from people because of what you were lacking at home. It was wrong and I’m not saying it was right, but I understand why you did it. I told you that I understood spying on people that one time and…in your case I understand it more,” she informed him with a small nod of her head. “This is how we are going to handle this…”

Max moved across the room, sitting on the couch beside her as she took a long moment to think things over.

“You are going to tell the people that have those spying areas in their apartments that you have to renovate the rooms because there is a leak in the building that is affecting the walls. Tell them that you will fix it for free. You are going to tell them that they need to leave while you are doing it and you are going to take out all the stuff you have to spy on them with. You aren’t going to be able to spy on people anymore and you are going to start with Juliet’s apartment first,” she insisted and Max nodded slowly, his eyebrows tensing together as she spoke. “I don’t care what you did, I care what you do from here on out. If you really want a relationship, if you really love me and you want to be with me…the next few weeks will provide me with the information if you really want to change or not. Are up for that?”

“I’m up for anything if it means you won’t leave me,” Max answered with a firm nod and she sighed heavily. “I swear.”

“Alright…” she folded her hands out in front of her and she looked at him with a heavy sigh. “But there is something we really need to talk about Max. Something very important.”

“I’m all ears…” Max muttered as she reached out for his hands. “What’s wrong?”

* * *

 

Eight years. It had been eight years to the day since that moment and Max could feel a chill filling his body when he pulled his jacket closer to his body while walking down the chilly streets of New York. A long sigh escaped his lips as he took a look around the area before him.  Turning the corner, he could feel his heart stop when he saw her. Y/N was standing outside a brownstone home and the very sight of her still took his breath away. Cautiously moving forward, he approached her seeing that she was holding onto a stroller and he could feel his heart hammering in his chest.

“Y/N,” Max muttered and he could see her lift her head up from where she was talking to the baby inside of the stroller. Max watched her eyes meet his and he offered up a small smile. “It’s good to see you.”

“Max,” she breathed out his name and came off a little uncomfortable as she clutched tightly onto the stroller before her. “What are you doing here?”

“I was just going for a walk and…God, you look amazing,” Max began with a long sigh, looking her over and he nodded down toward the stroller. “So you had a baby?”

“Yeah…” she sighed heavily and Max moved around the stroller to look at the little girl sleeping in the stroller, causing him to smile. “She looks just like you. The father must be a very lucky man…”

“Max,” she pulled his attention from the baby and he moved in closer to her. “What are you doing here? Really? Are you following me again?”

“No, I swear. I’m not,” Max muttered with a frown, stepping in closer to her and he could see her shift uneasily before him. “How have you been? You look…amazing.”

“I’m fine,” she answered with a heavy sigh and Max’s eyes glanced over her left hand to see that there was a large diamond ring over her finger. Max bit down on his bottom lip and looked to her again. Max’s hair was cut and to her, he looked good as well. “It looks like life is treating you well.”

“It would have been better if you were still in it,” he suggested and she let out a long breath. “I miss you.”

“Well, if you would have just been the person that I suggested, you could have still had me,” she answered as Max moved across the small space between them and she gulped down uneasily. “I’m married Max.”

“Your husband is a very lucky man,” Max slurred, reaching out to slip his arm round her waist and he could feel her hand pressing in over the center of his chest. “Let’s be honest, Y/N….you’ve never been able to get over me. You always loved me so much and there was no getting over it. Whatever you have now, it’s just a cover up to try and get over me.”

“It’s not,” she insisted, her eyes looking up into his as he reached out to cup her face tenderly in his hands and she let out a tense breath. “You aren’t half the man that my husband is…”

“Oh, then where is he at if he is Mr. Wonderful?” Max taunted and she let out an angered sound as he reached up to drag his thumb over her bottom lip in a slow sweep. “That’s exactly my point. No man has ever loved and cared for you as much as I did…as much as I do…”

“Max,” she whimpered, clasping her hand over the center of his chest as his lips lowered over hers, capturing them in a tender caress and she let out a small gasp against the motion. “I wish that we could go back and change things…”

“Mmmm, just focus on the moment baby,” Max muttered against her lips as their kiss got more intense and Max heard the sound of a heavy groan behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he could see that a little boy was leaving the home with a bag over his shoulder.

“Ew, stop! This is how we ended up with mommy getting pregnant again. I thought two was more than enough, but you hadta keep goin’,” the little boy groaned uneasily and Max cracked a smile, pulling away from the kiss with Y/N as Max reached down to run the back of his hand over Y/N’s swollen stomach. “My friend’s parents don’t kiss and tease each other like you do. It’s embarrassing. You act like those people on the TV.”

“Good to see you too Caleb,” Max reached out to brush his hand throughout his son’s hair and he moved to pick up his seven year old son, pulling him to his chest. “I take it you enjoyed piano lessons today?”

“Piano lessons were great, but you two need to stop that kissin’ stuff, it’s gross,” the little boy muttered and Max laughed feeling Y/N pressing in beside him, caressing over his firm shoulder. Their teasing and roleplaying outside had caused their son to get embarrassed as they both laughed. “I didn’t mind it when I got a little sister, but now…I hope it’s not another girl.”

“Aw, come on, you know you love being a big brother,” Y/N reached out to tickle over their son’s stomach and he let out a small amount of laughter, carefully pushing her hand away.

“Can we ask the hospital to give us a boy this time?” Caleb’s head tilted to the side as he felt his mother moving forward to press a quick kiss against his cheek. Max carefully set Caleb down before moving toward the little girl in the stroller.

“There is my little girl,” Max pulled the small child up from the stroller, holding her up in the air as her laughter filled the air when he made airplane sounds. “How’s my little Lilly?”

“Probably sick of you guys kissin’ too,” Caleb made another disgusted face as Max burst out in laughter and carefully put his little girl back in her stroller.

“You should be happy, that means that your parents actually love each other,” Max informed Caleb as he reached out to pick Caleb up and put him up on his shoulders as they started to head back toward home. “I love your mother very much.”

“Oh, you can love her, but I’ve had enough of the kissin’,” Caleb laughed as he watched Max moved to kiss Y/N again and Caleb tugged at his father’s hair. “Dad!”

“I’m sorry, I just couldn’t resist,” Max chuckled as they walked a few blocks down, stopping at a brownstone and Max helped Y/N get the family back into the home before closing the door behind him. “Alright Caleb, go get your homework out and I will be right there to help you.”

“Alright…” Caleb groaned out, grabbing the book bag from Max’s hands before Max turned to Y/N with a bright smile.

“Sorry, I had to go check to make sure that the new manager I have at one of the apartment buildings was working out okay ,” Max reached out to cup her face in his hands lovingly. They kissed for a moment before pulling away and he smiled brightly. Reaching out to caress over the swell of her stomach, he leaned forward to press his forehead against hers. “How’s my little one today?”

“Fidgety. I think Caleb is right; we need to stop after this one. My back has had enough of this,” she felt his hand sliding in over the small of her back to caress over it tenderly. The sound of their dogs running down the stairs were heard and Max moved to get out of their way as they ran into the kitchen to be with Caleb. Max snickered before looking to her again, reaching out to press a stray strand of hair away from her face. “I’m serious; this one wants to beat the hell out of my bladder.”

“It probably doesn’t like the spicy food you gave it the other night,” Max teased, feeling her reaching out to poke at the center of his chest and he laughed. “I’m just saying, what worked for Caleb and Lilly, might not work for the baby.”

“Yeah, yeah…” she brushed off his words and reached up to press her fingertips throughout his short hair. “Which I forgot to mention, I have a meeting tomorrow with one of the investors for the company tomorrow, so I’ll need you to watch the kids…”

“You got it babe,” Max pressed another quick kiss against her lips before going to move away. When he went to leave, he felt her tug him back to her and he laughed. “What’s up?”

“You don’t regret the choices you’ve made in your life, right? With me? I know we always tease each other, but I just…I figured I should ask,” she whispered and Max frowned even at the question that she was asking him. Max reached up to brush her hair out of her face and she sighed. “We have a seven year old and a little girl that will be turning two soon…”

“And a newborn on the way, along with two crazy dogs. This is the best thing that ever happened to me. It’s been eight years to the day since you told me about you being pregnant with Caleb and that was the best day of my life. I don’t regret changing everything around and marrying you. I’m healthy because of you and my children. I owe you everything,” Max assured her with a heavy sigh, caressing his thumb over her jawline softly. “Do you regret marrying me?”

“Never,” she slurred against his lips when he moved in to kiss her again. “I love you so much.”

“And I will forever love you for giving me a second chance at life,” Max muttered moving in to kiss her again and he could hear his son groan from the kitchen again. A snort escaped his lips when he watched Y/N laugh and he moved for their daughter. Max reached to grab her to carry her into the kitchen with them as he moved toward the table to help his son. When Y/N moved to sit the table with them, he reached for her hand with his free hand and smiled. “I love you all so very much.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I ended it the way it was asked of me, happy. Thanks again to everyone that read it :)


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